Chuck vs the Photographic Memory
by ms-mezzy
Summary: What would have happened to our heroes if Sarah had been the one to leave Chuck at the train-station in Prague? Eventually will be Charah season 3 time line. Explores Sarah/Sam's past. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Hey all! This is my first attempt at fan-fiction, but I've read quite a few over the years, so hopefully it will meet everyone's expectations. Any and all reviews are welcome :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, I just enjoy writing about it for fun!

_Train Station at Prague_

Chuck glanced down at his watch for the millionth time in the past two minutes. "Where is she?" he asked himself, again.

"All aboard!" the conductor called. Chuck continued to pace the train's boardwalk.

After glancing at his watch yet again, Chuck's shoulders started to droop. She couldn't just stand him up could she? This was their dream: his dream. To be with Sarah for as long as they both lived, well, he could think of a few sappier ways to phrase it, but he wanted this. No, he needed this.

"Are you Chuck?" Chuck heard someone ask from behind him.

He spun around to see a man wearing all black clothing and designer shades. "Typical spy attire," Chuck internally joked. "Who wants to know?" he asked, hoping for a flash on the stranger.

"This is for you from a Sarah Walker," the man said, handing him an envelope.

Chuck reached out for the envelope, trying to imagine what could possibly keep Sarah from delivering this to him herself. As his fingers closed around the envelope, the man grabbed his wrist and jerked it hard, twisting Chuck's shoulder and forcing Chuck in front of him. "Owww!" Chuck hissed, a little louder than necessary.

"Stop that, or I'll shoot," he growled in Chuck's ear. Chuck could feel the metal barrel dig its way into his rib cage. Chuck gulped, nervously, and said, "C-can you put that away? I'm kind of anti-gun. Well, unless it's a water gun, I'd feel much more comfortable about that. Water's safe, you know? Maybe you don't know. Er, I'd much rather just talk this out. Man to man kind of thing,…"

"Shut up and move," the man said. He had made pretty good progress with Chuck towards the black sedan waiting by the curb. Chuck, still trying to figure out what was going on, closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on some kind of ninja move. "Flash. Flash darn it!" he muttered, helplessly.

"Just so you know, Beckman made her see some sense. Did you honestly think someone like her would actually want to run away with you? It was a set up, Chuck. Your country needs you to become a spy, and for Sarah to keep doing missions. Forget about her. She's not coming back. She's in love with someone else," the man said, finally letting go of Chuck, letting him stand in front of the open door to the backseat of the sedan.

"W-who?" Chuck stuttered, not noticing the man pull his gun out from under his shirt.

"Me," the stranger said, raising his gun, and firing it straight at Chuck.

Chuck stumbled backwards into the sedan, his thoughts whirring at a hundred miles per hour. As he slipped into unconsciousness, he heard the train's final whistle, and the last bit of Chuck's dream life pulled away down the tracks.

_An hour before the Prague incident… _

"Passports, check. Extra cash, check. Train ticket, check. Spare gun… not check," Sarah hurriedly thought to herself. Trying to go off the grid in one day was tricky but possible. Definitely possible for the super-spy. "Where did I put that gun?" she thought, throwing open random drawers in hopes of finding it.

"Looking for something, Agent Walker?" a familiar voice said. Sarah looked up from her partially-empty sock drawer to see General Beckman's face on her laptop monitor.

"How could I forget to turn that off…" Sarah scolded herself.

"Agent Walker, I hate to tell you this but we've been keeping extra tabs on you and our asset.." she began.

"Chuck," Sarah seethed loudly.

"Excuse me?" Beckman asked, pushing her glasses up as she scrutinized Sarah.

"Chuck. His name his Chuck. And he shouldn't be forced to be your "asset," as you commonly like to call him," Sarah retorted.

"This proves my point exactly, Agent Walker. It doesn't take a genius to see how compromised you are on this mission, so I installed a few new security measures on some of your personal items. Your spare gun, which was in very good shape, by the way, had a tiny microphone installed in the barrel. From that we were able to listen in on your plans to go off grid with the interse… Chuck," Beckman continued.

"You were spying on me? I can understand using microphones for Chuck but bugging me is way out of line. That's a breach of privacy!..." began Sarah's rant.

"Sarah," the general started, more gently, "I understand that you care deeply about Chuck. What you fail to understand is that your country needs the intersect as badly as you seem to think you need him. I'm willing to make a deal with you, Agent Walker, but I'll need your cooperation."

"I'm listening," Sarah said, grudgingly.

"If you can let Chuck train and let him become the spy he should be, I'll clear the two of you to date, not just as a cover, but really get to know each other. If your relationship should progress further than that, well, we'll cover that terrain when we get to it, but I don't see how it could pose a threat if you both are still willing to work for the country."

Sarah mulled over what Beckman had just said. It would be so easy to smash the laptop, run to the station, and try to still get away with Chuck, but the mission had been compromised early enough that Sarah knew that it wouldn't end well. Chuck could be killed, or worse, stuck in a bunker for the rest of his life.

She dropped onto the edge of her bed and put her head in her hands. The life she had always dreamed of seemed unobtainable now, and she was going to have to bargain Chuck's soul for it. If Chuck were trained, he would lose his emotions. He would learn to control them and she'd never be able to see him at humanity's best again. There wasn't any way around it, though.

"Have you come to a decision, Agent Walker?" the general implored after a few minutes had passed.

"What am I going to tell him?" Sarah asked dejectedly.

"Don't worry, we already have a plan in place. All you have to do is pack your things and you can begin your new mission," Beckman said. "If everything works out, you could see Chuck again in a matter of months," she added.

Sarah closed her eyes and tried to hold back her tears. Failing for control, she opened them and blearily stared the general down. "What's my new mission?"

Outside the sound of a taxi horn could be heard, honking for Sarah one last time. As the taxi pulled away from the hotel, Sarah's dreams of a normal life left, too.


	2. Chapter 2

_*Author's Note* Wow, I never really understood what people were talking about when they said they were looking at their inbox for reviews... but it is SOO addicting! :o) Thank you to all who reviewed!_

_As someone pointed out, I suppose I should give you some idea of where I'm going with this. I'm still new to the fanfic lingo, so I'm not too sure what AU entitles for a Chuck fanfic. (?) I'm planning on keeping the canon characters and all their normal interactions with each other, but Sarah's mission will involve one (possibly two) new characters. *Hopefully* they won't interfere too much with the Charah/angst thing that much *wink wink*_

_I don't know if I'm going to update every few days or not, but I have the next couple of chapters finished, and I feel bad about leaving it at a cliff-hanger! *apologetic face* Since it's summer and I have nothing else to do, I'll try and get most of the story done before summer is over because when school starts, it will be hard for me to update. Thanks again for reading! Enjoy! :o) _

Six Months Later

Everything seemed to be falling apart for Chuck. Sarah's abandoning him had escalated to affect his job (as a spy and as a Buy More employee), family and friend relationships, and now the controller of his play station. Ellie and Devon, well, Devon at least, had given up on Chuck's anti-social behavior.

When Chuck mysteriously disappeared for several months, the happily-married couple assumed Chuck had run away with Sarah. They both realized how wrong they had been when Chuck appeared out of nowhere at the breakfast table one morning.

_"Chuck! When did you get home? Where were you? Why didn't you answer my calls? Where's Sarah?" Ellie started._

_ Chuck choked on his orange juice and made a face at the mention of Sarah's name._

_"Whoa, bro. Swallowing down the wrong pipe has ruined many tracheas of homosapiens," Devon joked. Chuck rolled his eyes at Devon's attempt at humor and went back to reading the cereal box._

_ Noticing Chuck's reaction to her name, Ellie asked again, "Chuck, where's Sarah?"_

_ Still not getting a decent response from her brother, she tentatively said his name, "Chuck?"_

Chuck still refused to talk to either is bother-in-law or sister about what had happened during the months he'd left Burbank. He even got to the place where he ignored Morgan's insistent phone calls, and more recently, his visits to the house.

Chuck didn't like to think of everything that he had failed.

For starters, he had epically failed spy school. Getting kicked out after two months of training had set a new record at the academy. Casey had had a lot of good jokes from that.

Next, he had failed at the Buy More. Somehow, under his careful eye, the store had been put on probation and was currently in danger of closing. Chuck personally blamed himself since he had been the one who spilled coffee on the regional manager's suit, ordered the wrong un-Kosher Subway sandwich, accidentally dropped a lethal television set on the manager's little Chihuahua, Ronnie, locked the manager in the bathroom with Jeff and Lester for a disturbing 20 minutes, and dropped a faulty camera that happened to blow their new 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo.

Chuck was just thankful he hadn't been fired. Yet.

His family was next on his fail list. He hadn't talked to his dad in a long time; his dad had dropped off the face of the earth again. Devon was frustrated that Chuck wasn't doing anything with his life. Ellie was freaking out because she didn't want him to waste another five years of his life on another girl, which, ironically, was next on his list.

He had failed his girlfriend. He considered her his girlfriend, even if she was technically only his part-time girlfriend and only then an under-cover girlfriend. She would have wanted him to get it together and be a spy, the kind of spy that didn't fail his country. Even if she had fallen in love with someone else, he still owed her that. It was just hard to be a spy when you couldn't make the most basic part of the Bartowski cover work: his flash.

It wasn't for lack of trying that Chuck couldn't flash. He had tried, unsuccessfully, during spy training, after he was fired from being a spy, and he still tried to flash in his everyday-civilian life. It just wasn't working.

Chuck blamed it on the new intersect download. He reasoned that Casey would blame it on not having enough motivation. She would have pinned it on his emotions.

Over-all, Chuck's life was going just as he had expected it would when he had first been tranqed and forced into that black sedan all those months ago.

It was likely the fact that Chuck had failed miserably, after looking at his limited supply of left-over spy papers once again; to flash that had driven him to re-play Final Fantasy XII for the fifth time. Video games were the only thing Chuck had motivation for these days.

"No, no, no, Aerith don't do that. Go back!" Frustrated, Chuck had thrown his controller across the room, resulting in his current state of depression. His controller had been his best friend for a long time, and he had unintentionally broken it, like everything else in his life. He picked his controller up, cradling it, and headed to his desk to try to fix it. If he could fix even one thing, maybe he could try to fix the rest of his broken life.

Chuck hated his dorky metaphors.

Several hours later, Chuck was still engrossed enough with his controller that he didn't hear the rap on his window. It wasn't until the rap became a constant tap that he realized there was a noise other than his occasional curse word. Assuming it was Morgan, he hollered, "Come in!" and returned to his work. He tweaked a few more wires before he said, "Morgan, I broke my controller. Is there any way I can borrow yours for the next couple of days?"

All of a sudden, Chuck heard his floor lamp crash to the floor followed by a loud thud. Thinking Morgan had tripped climbing into the room, breaking the first thing he came in contact with while trying to catch his fall, Chuck spun his chair around to scold his best friend. Who he saw was definitely not what he expected.

A brunette woman was leaning heavily against his wall, staring down at the lamp like she hadn't quite registered that she had caused it to fall. Her right hand was clutching just below her left shoulder. Blood was smeared across her clothes and face. Chuck's eyes widened as he tried to remember what little self defense she and Casey had tried to teach him.

"Er, hi there," Chuck began nervously, "Are you okay?" Chuck slowly began inching his hand towards the cell phone in his pocket. "You kind of have blood on your… well, actually, you kind of have it all over you. Maybe you should…"

The woman looked up at Chuck, startling him with her dazzling green eyes. They looked oddly like.. "Sarah?" he asked, baffled. It was the first time he had said her name since that awful day.

"Chuck," she said. "Help me." 

_Sorry about another cliff-hanger! The next chapter should be posted Mon/Tues so you don't have that long of a wait :o) I need your advice: do you want me to use Shaw as the baddie in this fic or would you prefer a new baddie? I'm leaning towards a new one because if I use Shaw, I might have to change his story line a bit, or else it'll be a boring read since we all know his story already! Any and all suggestions are welcome! _


	3. Chapter 3

_*Author's Note* Thanks to all who reviewed and gave me feedback for the new baddie! I have the next couple of chapters written, and hopefully, the baddie will be a surprise for everyone :) I apologize if I didn't respond to everyone's review, I really do appreciate you, it's just that I was using my friend's ipod and it was really confusing! To those who didn't have a reply link:_

_Lala – Thanks! :o) I understand the wanting a hardened Chuck, but for the way the fic is going, he had to be a basket case for awhile at least lol. No worries, he'll rebound soon!_

_Ll – He had to fail spy school because the intersect isn't working. Don't worry, everything will work out for Chuck soon! Thanks for reviewing! :)_

_I apologize for anything not medically correct in the next couple of chapters. I haven't started pre-med classes yet… But I did try to research everything! Enjoy!_

* * *

"Sarah?" Chuck started, "What are you doing here?"

Sarah closed her eyes and started to sway. She reached her good arm out and grabbed onto the wall to steady herself. Chuck's eyes widened when he saw what her hand had been hiding.

"Why aren't you at a hospital?" he asked, his voice rising with worry. "Sarah, what happened?" He reached out and grabbed her as she started to sway again, carefully helping her to sit on the floor so that she wouldn't fall over.

"No hospitals" she said, forcefully, "it would blow my cover." She winced as Chuck tried to get her shirt to stop sticking to her wound.

Chuck winced as her arm started to bleed, "Your…cover? You're worried about your cover when you obviously need medical attention, or did you not notice the bullet stuck in your arm?" he argued.

Sarah opened her eyes and glared at him. "It's not that bad. Trust me, I've had worse." Sarah grabbed the bit of t-shirt Chuck had pulled from her blood-caked arm and pressed it to her wound.

They were both silent for a few awkward moments. Chuck cleared his throat and asked, again, "What are you doing here, Sarah?"

She sighed, "I don't want to impose, but I really need you to flash on something. My partner and asset were captured, and their tracking devices aren't working. I also need to contact the General; my handheld was confiscated when they captured me."

Chuck's face fell when she said 'partner.' That spy had been right; she had dumped Chuck for someone else. His heart in his throat, Chuck started to stand up before she could see the emotions playing across his face.

"Please, Chuck? You're the only one who can help," she added, softer.

Still not making eye contact, Chuck morosely told her, "I can't help."

Sarah raised her eyebrows in obvious confusion. "Chuck, I…" Chuck cut her off.

"It's not that I don't want to, Sarah, but… I can't flash. I'm no longer working for the CIA, and I have no way to contact the director. You'd have more luck trying to hunt down Casey. I still see him around Burbank every now and again."

Sarah gasped softly. "What do you mean you can't flash? Beckman told me you were still training! I.. If I had known our deal was off, I would have come back sooner."

"What deal?" Chuck questioned.

"She said that as soon as you were a spy we could be together, for real." Seeing Chuck's confusion, she stated, bluntly, "She didn't tell you." Angrily she shouted, "Damn it!" and punched the wall behind her, regretting it as soon as the anger passed. "Shoot. I forgot about my other arm…" she trailed off, closing her eyes and gasping in pain.

Chuck was beyond confusion. All the pent up emotions from the past months surfaced and were on the verge of exploding. The devastation of Sarah's leaving was slowly turning to anger at the CIA, at the General, at himself for being so stupid.

He sunk back to the floor and took Sarah's hand. He was about to say something, but was interrupted.

"I need you to flash, Chuck," Sarah repeated. She pointed to her backpack, lying on the floor next to the broken lamp. "There's a piece of paper written in code in the front pocket," she paused, and then corrected him as he went for the wrong one, "other front pocket," as Chuck unzipped it. "See if you can get a flash on their location. The asset is really important, almost more important than you are. Figure out where they are and then contact the General," she said hurriedly, in one breath.

Chuck held up the piece of paper and squinted at it. It was written in some sort of symbols. Since he hadn't gotten a flash from the first glance, he closed his eyes, trying to find his calm center. He had to center his emotions.

He slowed his breathing and tried to focus on Sarah's hand. It amazed him how well their hands fit together and how soft her hands were, even though she fought with them all the time. Slowly, his emotions stopped whirring and he felt himself go calm. He opened his eyes and looked at the piece of paper.

His eyes started to twitch and he felt the familiar sensation of his brain's wheels turning. Giving over to the intersect, he flashed.

_A spinning top. A scientist at his lab. A crocodile. A military unit. A spinning top._

"Oy," Chuck said, enjoying the feeling of flashing. He shook his head and then exclaimed, "Sarah, Sarah I flashed!"

"Do you know where they are?" she asked, hopeful.

"Yea, yea I do! They don't like their pet crocodiles to be out of their natural habitat." He shuddered at the thought of a pet crocodile.

"Good job, Chuck," Sarah said, weakly. "Remember… no hospitals," Sarah's eyes started to glaze over before she shut them completely.

Chuck's exhilarating moment was shattered. He looked at Sarah's wound again and saw it was bleeding freely. His eyes widened and he started to panic. "Sarah!" he shouted. "Come on, you're stronger than that. You have to save your asset!"

"Contact… Beckman" she said, and faded into blissful oblivion.

"Sarah, wake up!" Chuck shook Sarah, trying to get a response from her. Panic engulfed him. He couldn't lose her, not like this. He jumped up and grabbed his cell phone, pressing speed dial #4.

"This is Dr. Woodcomb," Devon answered in his official hospital-voice.

Chuck was on the verge of a breakdown, but he managed to choke out, "Hey, bro, I need your awesomeness."

* * *

_This is the LAST cliff-hanger I will make you suffer through for a while. PROMISE! To compensate for the awfulness I've made you go through, chapters 4 and 5 are almost double in length of what I usually write. I'll update again before the week is over. Happy reading :o)_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N **Hey! I don't really have that much to say minus a quick response. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and happy reading! _

_Ll: Thanks! And I totally understand. Life is just the pits sometimes for Chuck.. especially when it comes to him actually succeeding in life! Lol. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

**RECAP**

"Sarah, wake up!" Chuck shook Sarah, trying to get a response from her. Panic engulfed him. He couldn't lose her, not like this. He jumped up and grabbed his cell phone, pressing speed dial #4.

"This is Dr. Woodcomb," Devon answered in his official-hospital voice.

Chuck was on the verge of a breakdown, but he managed to choke out, "Hey, bro, I need your awesomeness."

**Chapter 4**

Waiting for Captain Awesome to arrive was the longest fifteen minutes of Chuck's life. Fearing that he might hurt Sarah more, he had carefully moved her to the recovery position on the floor and covered her with a blanket. Devon had said not to do anything else until he got there.

Devon had actually sounded pretty calm when Chuck hung up. He hadn't dropped the phone, cussed Chuck out, or even made any weird noises as Chuck had explained the details to his brother-in-law.

_"Devon, this is going to sound really weird, but Sarah is at my house.."_

_He was interrupted by Devon's, "Awesome! I knew she'd come back. It's a Bartowski thing."_

_Chuck impatiently continued, "She's here, but she's in shock from a gunshot wound, and I can't take her to a hospital. Look, can I explain it when you get here?" Chuck managed to rush out in one breath._

_"Dude, bro, two words: gunshot wound. Are you serious? You're not bringing her in?"_

_"She specifically said that I couldn't. Look, you know how I used to always be gone with Sarah and Casey? It has a lot to do with that. Just… can you help or not?"_

_"Chuck, you can be a serious dork. You need to call an ambulance…"_

_"NO! Do I need to ask Ellie? Because I'm sure she can help if you can't," Chuck bluffed. He really didn't want to involve his sister. She wasn't awesome enough to handle something like this._

_"Give me one good reason, other than she 'can't go to the hospital' that I shouldn't call an ambulance right now."_

_Chuck paused on the other line. On the one hand, it would be nice to have someone in his family know about his secret. On the other hand, he was pretty sure Beckman would kill him if she ever found out. Screw Beckman._

_Taking a deep breath, Chuck blurted out, "Sarah and I are both CIA agents; Sarah more so than me right now, but that's beside the point. If she goes to a hospital, she'll blow her cover and who knows what would happen after that. Please, Devon, please be awesome and don't freak out."_

_A few moments passed."Devon?" Chuck asked. He was afraid his brother-in-law might have flipped on him._

_"I'm coming."_

Chuck had finally quit pacing and sat down next to Sarah. She was still breathing, and the blood flow had slowed to a trickle. That was good, right?

He mulled over what he had learned from Sarah. She was under-cover; she had been captured, and now she was at his house. He still had no idea how she had gotten to his house, who her partner was, who the new asset was, or why the man who still haunted his dreams had said she was in love with someone else. Sarah was here, with him. Didn't that mean that she still loved him?

Chuck did not like being clueless.

Chuck heard the front door slam shut and Devon's footsteps pound up the stairs with a huge backpack overflowing with medical supplies trailing behind him. Turning around, he saw his brother-in-law's flushed face stare at him then at Sarah.

It took him a few minutes for Devon to compose himself, but he soon winked at Chuck and said, "CIA? Awesome, bro. Totally awesome." He went to Sarah and checked her vitals.

"Man, your girlfriend is one tough chick. She's got to be in some serious pain," Devon said as he injected Sarah with some morphine. He cleaned the gunshot area, grabbed a medical instrument that looked like tweezers and started towards Sarah's arm. Chuck muffled a groan.

"You don't have to watch, you know." Chuck took that as an invitation to get up and leave the room before he fainted. Needles were bad enough; the tweezer thing looked ten times worse.

Chuck sat in the hallway and waited for Devon to finish up. Not even a half-hour later, Devon called him back in.

"So I'm not too sure what we're going to tell Ellie.." he began. "I was thinking along the lines of she was like this when she showed up?"

Chuck grinned. "I'm sure we can come up with something. Listen, I really owe you one. Your country owes you…"

Devon held up a hand. "Need to know only. Awesome as it is that you're going to stop bumming around the house, I really need to get back to the hospital. Surgery, you know? I'll have my pager if anything should happen."

He paused before he left the room and then added, "You should clean up your room." Devon smacked Chuck on the back and hurried back to work.

Chuck surveyed his room. The lamp was shattered; there was blood all over the floor, and Devon's surgical tools were scattered elsewhere. The only good thing was Sarah asleep in his bed. Sure she was unconscious, but that was a minor detail. She was there. There was hope that he could clean up the mess.

* * *

Sarah's head was foggy as she came back to the real world. Without opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings. She was on something soft, and she was warm. She started to move, but stopped when she felt pain shoot up her arm.

That wasn't there before.

On closer examination, she felt a sling around her neck. She internally groaned as she fought to remember what happened. Was she in a hospital? It felt like she was in a hospital gown, but on closer inspection, she concluded it was an over-sized t-shirt.

It sure didn't smell like a hospital. It smelled like cologne and pizza. She strained her ears to hear anything abnormal. Was that voice.. Chuck?

"Yes, General, I know where their location is… No, I don't plan on invading on my own, I'm not crazy. They have crocodiles!... She's unconscious, but recovering… No, no hospitals were involved... She didn't say anything about what happened to her team… Right, okay thanks, talk to you when she wakes up. Oh and General…you have a lot of explaining to do."

Chuck hung up his phone and tip-toed in from the hallway to see if Sarah was awake. Devon had said it would take two to three hours for the morphine to start to wear off, but it had been four, and she was still dead to the world.

He sat down at his desk to work on his controller, wondering if he should get a new one, but tossed the idea as soon as he thought of it. It was nice to have something basic to fix.

While attempting to reconnect the circuits, Chuck thought about how glad he was Casey hadn't changed his personal number; thankfully, Casey still had the General on speed dial. Chuck stifled a laugh at his last memory of the General. His emotions had, after all, been what stopped the intersect from working.

After Chuck had been expelled from spy school, Beckman had lost her temper, slightly, causing her face to turn a lovely shade of purple. She told Chuck that she wouldn't be in contact with him again until he learned to control his emotions.

Looking back on it, he reasoned that he could have been a bit more cooperative to work. Fighting back at everyone and everything that had tried to train him wasn't the best way to pass spy school, but, as he recalled, he had been very put out with the spy-world at the time. Putting saran wrap over all the toilet seats had been enjoyable, though.

Chuck was soon absorbed by his controller, but his concentration broke when he heard her ask, "What are you working on?" He all but jumped out of his chair to her bedside where she was struggling to sit up.

Chuck noticed, and grabbed a pillow from his spare chair to put behind her. She looked up at him, gratefully.

"How are you feeling? Do you want anything to eat? I have some leftover pizza," he said, nodding his head in the pizza box's direction.

"Some water would be nice," she hinted. "I can smell olives," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Oh, right, I only ordered olives on my half of the pizza. I don't forget that easily," he said grinning. "I'll move it to the hallway, though" he grabbed the pizza box and a water bottle from his night-stand, throwing the bottle on the bed and carrying the box out of the room.

Sarah looked at the water bottle, glanced down at her arm, and sighed. Life with one arm was going to be interesting. At least she wasn't a lefty; that would have been fun.

Chuck walked back in and saw her staring at the un-opened water bottle. Wanting to slap himself, he walked over and took the bottle from her, easily opening it and handing it back. "Sorry, I, um, forgot about the whole arm thing," he added sheepishly.

Before she could respond, Chuck's television screen lit up. Beckman peered at them from beneath her glasses, removed them, and then smiled. "I'm glad to see you're doing better, Agent Adams, or I guess it's Agent Walker again now." Her smile faded back into her normal self, "It would be very enlightening to know how it was possible that the asset was kidnapped from under three of our best agents?"

Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. Looking put-out, she said, "Not before Chuck and I get some answers."

The general looked the couple over, sighed, and then said, "Very well."

General Beckman took a deep breath, took her glasses off, and began to speak.

"Before I say anything that is a breach of confidentiality, I want you to know that your partner managed to make a clean escape with the asset, Sarah. They both sustained much less damage than you."

Sarah visibly relaxed at this news. "Thank you for telling me, General," she said.

She paused for a moment, and then continued, "I owe both of you an apology. Chuck, I know you think that you've failed everything, but that's not entirely true. You reacted just how I expected you would."

Chuck had been angry, livid really, when Beckman started speaking. Chuck hadn't forgotten the night in Prague that easily. Now, though, he was just surprised at what she said. Looking over at Sarah, he saw she was confused, too.

"Mr. Bartowski, even though you don't necessarily handle missions like an orthodox spy, you always complete the assignment. I took this for granted, but when the intersect stopped working, the CIA nearly went to pieces; we were completely without an inside scoop on the bad guys. Now that you have started flashing with the 2.0, I think that you can at least pretend to protect the government's secrets."

Beckman paused and smiled, slightly. "As much as it pains me to admit it, your emotions make you a useful spy in a completely different way. It's recently come to my attention that I have a certain mission that can only be accomplished by a spy who can feel empathy for others."

By this point, Chuck was more than confused. Who had abducted the real General and what had they done with her?

"I'm glad that you have found some use for me, General, but I'm still confused. Why did you send me to spy school at all if you wanted me to keep my emotions?"

Beckman rubbed a hand over her eyes. "The past year has been… difficult, to say the least, for the CIA. We had several breaches of security, many agents turn rogue, and far too many civilians were killed because of a project that we let get out of hand. When I first sent you off to learn to be a spy, I needed more agents like Sarah and Casey. Now…"

She stopped, trying to decide if she should continue or not. Deciding she should, she asked, "Do you know anything about the PGMA program?"

* * *

_Okay. I'm officially at a standstill. I have two ideas and two different chapters written for the next part, but I don't know which one to choose! The next chapter will pick the course for the rest of the story. Option A) involve Casey's daughter, Alex, or Option B) create a new character that will be significantly younger than the show's characters. I can see pros and cons for both, but I don't see any way to combine the two. Suggestions?_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N **Checking my reviews for the last chapter was really awesome! I didn't know there were that many people reading my story. It officially made my life :o) Anyway, this chapter (and the next) pretty much explain everything up to this point. Let me know if it makes sense or not, because if it doesn't, I'll try and clear up the confusion in the next chapter. Thanks to agentchuckles for the joke at the beginning of the story! I'll update again before the week is over. Enjoy! _

* * *

_RECAP: Beckman rubbed a hand over her eyes. "The past year has been… difficult, to say the least, for the CIA. We had several breaches of security, many agents turn rogue, and far too many civilians were killed because of a project that we let get out of hand. When I first sent you off to learn to be a spy, I needed more agents like Sarah and Casey. Now…" _

_She stopped, trying to decide if she should continue or not. Deciding she should, she asked, "Do you know anything about the PGMA program?"_

Chuck started to shake his head no, but then said, "Wait. Isn't there a President Gloria Mcapagal Arroyo? Or is that an ex-president?"

The General dramatically rolled her eyes. "Haha, Chuck. The PGMA program stands for Photo Graphic Memory Analysis. It was run by Mr. Professor Whickman and his student at the local university until the professor was murdered.

Sarah couldn't help but release an impatient sigh. She had heard all of this already, and she desperately needed to use the restroom.

"I apologize, Agent Walker, for having to re-brief you. I'm not too sure what all Chuck knows since little was known about the PGMA program when the 2.0 was downloaded."

Chuck balked. "She knows about this already?"

"He was my last assignment, "she said, quietly.

"Oh, right. Your asset and… partner," he said the last word bitterly, "were captured. "Is that how you were shot?"

"That's a good question, Chuck. I am very interested to find out how you ended up in Burbank when the last signal we picked up from you was at the university, Sarah."

Sarah softly cleared her throat and began, "I'm sure that Agent Parker told you we had a breach in our security measures?"

"He did. He said that when he found Alex she was with one of our agents who had obviously turned Rogue."

"Right, well, Alex was called to Professor Whickman's office and…"

"Wait. Can we stop and rewind really fast?" Chuck interjected. "Unless it's classified and I shouldn't be in the room, I'd really appreciate if I knew what was going on."

"I keep forgetting I haven't told you yet," Sarah apologized. "Permission to speak freely, General?"

"Permission granted."

"It's sort of a long story, so I'll just stick to the major details. My partner for the past several months was Agent Aaron Parker." Seeing Chuck's face, she quickly clarified, "We didn't have the slightest romantic interest in each other; it was strictly professional." Chuck still looked at her like he didn't believe her.

Ignoring his pointed look, she continued, "Alex McHugh is.. Well, she's Casey's daughter."

Chuck's eyes all but popped out of his head. "Casey has a.." he stopped, unable to finish the sentence.

Between the General and Sarah, they were able to tell Chuck about how Casey had faked his death without knowing his fiancé was pregnant. The story was inconceivable to Chuck, but it explained why Casey had been in Burbank every now and again.

"Professor Whickman and Alex began working on the PGMA program during her junior year in college. As you can imagine, she is incredibly brilliant," the General said. "

"I bet," Chuck mumbled.

Smiling slightly, at Chuck's response, Sarah continued, "The two of them worked on the PGMA program for quite some time with no results, but before too long, they created something that worked. They had no idea what they had invented."

She paused. "Several weeks after they released their findings to the public, Professor Whickman was found murdered in his office."

Sarah took over, "We didn't tell anyone that he had been murdered, which was a mistake because Alex had no way of knowing she was in danger. We thought we had the campus security under control. Had we of known that she had injected herself with the drug.." Sarah stopped, unsure how to finish.

"I was serving lunch in the cafeteria, and Parker was, I'm assuming, cleaning somewhere close by me. Alex had just filled her tray when her phone rang. She answered it, and got up hurriedly to leave.

One minute I'm stirring the spaghetti sauce, and the next the sprinklers are going off in the cafeteria."

Sarah's eyes took on a darker color, "I knew it couldn't have been a coincidence. I ran out after Alex, and I saw Agent Parker running after her, too. I remember feeling dizzy while I was running, and trying to get Parker's attention, but when I looked where he had just been, he was gone. The next thing I knew was I was waking up in the trunk of a car. I was bound, but other than that, unhurt."

Pausing for effect, she continued, "I didn't know what had happened to Alex or Parker, so I escaped from the trunk. Whoever it was that had me realized what I had done as soon as the trunk lid flew open, and they must have shot me while I was running. The pain from my shoulder made me stop. I tied a piece of my shirt around my arm to stop it from bleeding, and I tried to figure out where I was."

Smiling slightly, she said, "It didn't take me long to figure out I was still in California, only an hour away from Chuck's house. I jump-started the nearest car I could find and started to drive. I guess I made it here okay because the next thing I remember is waking up several minutes ago."

Chuck glanced out his window. There was a yellow sports-car parked in the middle of his fountain. "I should probably take care of that before Ellie gets home.." he thought to himself.

The General nodded her head, agreeing with what Sarah had said. "It fits with what Agent Parker said. He and Alex were both captured by the rogue agents, and were taken to a hidden facility. For several days I had no word on what had happened to the three of you, but Agent Parker managed to escape with Alex, and now they're in a secure government facility."

The General's expression turned grim, "We had to sedate Alex to bring her in.. Alex and Parker were split up during their captivity. She hasn't said a word since she was brought in. Her behavior reminds me of yours when you first came to the spy-training academy, Mr. Bartowski." They processed what had been said for a few moments.

"Why don't you have Casey talk to her? I'm sure she'd open up to him," Chuck suggested.

Sarah and Beckman shared a glance before responding to Chuck's idea.

"We let Colonel Casey know that his daughter was at the university, but no one has told him his daughter is now one of the most valuable assets our country has. Alex doesn't know that the Colonel is her father yet, either. We plan on telling the two of them soon."

Spent, Sarah lay back down on her pillows and closed her eyes. Opening them as fast as she had closed them, she announced, "I really have to use the restroom," and jumped out of Chuck's bed into the hallway.

Chuck rose to make sure Sarah was okay, but then changed his mind. Taking a deep breath, he said, "General, Sarah said something about a deal that you two had made."

The General's face instantly fell. "It was my hopes that by now you and Sarah would be fighting enemy spies, the typical, old-fashioned way by now. Seeing that you're not a typical spy, though, I'm afraid I'll have to alter my terms of agreement. If you and Sarah agree to the new mission that I have for both of you, I'll clear you to date for real. No more covers. No more lies, in your relationship at least."

"What was the original deal you made with Sarah?" Chuck asked, getting irritated that she wasn't giving him a straight answer.

"You should know, Chuck. It was in the letter I gave you in Prague," the General replied, starting to get annoyed.

"The only letter I got that night in Prague was a piece of blank paper that was supposed to be from Sarah," Chuck retorted, in a clipped, angry voice. "After being forced into a sedan, tranqed, and taken to a training facility against my will, you'd think the least you could do was to make sure you got the letter in the envelope."

Confusion colored Beckman's face. "Those were not my orders, Chuck. You were supposed to be briefed of the deal I had made with Sarah, and escorted to the facility." Realization dawned on her features. "That's why you wouldn't train at the facility… Chuck. Do you remember what the agent's name was that picked you up that night?"

"No, he didn't say, he just bullied me into the sedan," Chuck replied, all anger replaced with be-wilderness.

"I'll check the security tapes from that night, but.. Agent Carmichael, I think you encountered a new rogue agent. Any and all information you can remember about him will be critical."

Chuck's chest puffed out at the phrase Agent Carmichael, glad that he was reinstated, but immediately deflated. Did he really want to keep working for the agency that had made the past six months of his life a living hell?

"Did I hear you talking about a rogue agent?" Sarah asked, as she walked back into the room. She dropped onto the bed, exhausted, and tried to keep from stifling a yawn.

The general looked at Sarah knowingly. "You're tired, Agent Walker. We'll reschedule the rest of this brief for later."

"But what about our new mission?" Sarah asked, masking another yawn with her hand. "What about Alex? Her cover was compromised."

"I'd say we should re-brief tomorrow, but I have meetings all over the Middle East for the week." She looked over at her calendar, scribbled something down, and said, "I'll see the two of you at 9 am sharp, one week from now," and the television screen went blank.

Chuck looked over at Sarah and saw that she was about ready to fall back asleep. Wanting to stick to Devon's instructions, though, he went to his dresser and grabbed some fresh gauze and two white pills for Sarah. Seeing her incomprehension, he explained, "I have to change your wrap. You might want to take these first, though, it will help the pain."

Sarah swallowed the pills dutifully and sat up, resting her head on the wall behind her. Chuck made quick work of the bandages, and Sarah was under the sheets in no time at all, asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Chuck put his hand out to stroke her hair, but pulled it back almost as soon as he did. He still didn't know where she stood on her feelings for him, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't think that he could forgive her that easily. Broken hearts need time to heal.

It had been a long night, and Chuck was exhausted. Ellie and Devon wouldn't be home until later, so he had some time before he faced Momma Bear. He walked to his closet, found his sleeping bag, and unrolled it on the rug next to his bed. Moments after lying down, he, too, was asleep.

* * *

What seemed like minutes later, Chuck startled awake. He had been sleeping deeply, but he had heard something… He looked up to see Sarah tossing and turning, talking in her sleep.

"Please, no, not Jenn. Stop the car. Don't hit her.. No. No!" she screamed. Sarah sat straight up in bed. Awake now, she started to cry, attempting to muffle the sound with her pillow.

Jumping up, Chuck accidentally stubbed his funny bone on the head board. "Ow, not funny," he muttered, sitting next to Sarah. "Sarah," he said, "It was just a bad dream. " He began rubbing her back, trying to envelope her in a hug without bumping her arm.

Sarah continued crying for a few minutes, gradually coming to a stop. She cautiously leaned into Chuck's embrace. Hoping that the worst was over, Chuck offered, "Do you want to talk about it?" Sarah looked at Chuck, shook her head no, and the two sat quietly for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, she leaned over and started kissing Chuck. At first, Chuck was surprised, and instinctively tried to pull away, but Sarah was persistent and the kiss began to deepen. Having to stop for air, Chuck came to his senses and pushed Sarah away. She looked at him, hurt, and asked, "What's wrong? Don't you want this?"

"Of course I do!" Chuck said, a little louder than necessary. Wincing at his bluntness, he sighed, and continued in a more in-door-appropriate voice. "Sarah, you know how I feel about you. You just have to understand that for the past six months, I thought you ran away with someone else. At Prague, the agent said you were in love with someone else, and I thought… I didn't think I would ever see you again," he finished, lamely.

Comprehension dawned on Sarah's face. "The rogue agent," she stated. It soon turned to confusion and she asked, "Why would he say that? Chuck, I had everything planned to go off grid with you. I was willing to spend the rest of my life pretending to be whoever I had to be to keep you safe, to keep us together. How could you possibly think I would want to be with someone else?"

The couple stayed quiet for a few minutes. "I really do love you, Sarah. You know I do. I just.. can we take it slow for awhile? I need some time. Besides, you're not really Sarah as long as you're a brunette," he added.

Sarah sighed. "I understand. If I ever find the agent who messed this up for us, trust me, he's going to pay." A pause later, "Could we at least kiss? That wouldn't be that bad, would it?"

Blushing, Chuck said, "Sarah, what if they're listening? Isn't that a little.. awkward?"

"Only if you think about it," she replied. Seeing Chuck's blush deepen, she mumbled, "Fine, we'll take it slow." Feeling slightly rejected, she rolled as far away from Chuck as she could without bumping her arm.

Chuck started to get back into his sleeping bag when Sarah said, "At least sleep in your bed; you'll be wiped the rest of the day if you sleep on the floor." Hesitantly, Chuck agreed and settled in next to her, shyly taking her hand. Sarah felt her anger ebb almost immediately, and she gave his hand a light squeeze. Both of them comfortable again, they soon succumbed to their dreams.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:** Hey! This is the last of the explaining chapter. I hope you enjoy the Ellie moments as much as I did writing about it! Let me know if I failed to explain anything, and I'll explain again in the next chapter. Reviews=candy lol. Enjoy! :)  
_

_RECAP_

_Sarah sighed. "I understand. If I ever find the agent who messed this up for us, trust me, he's going to pay." A pause later, "Could we at least kiss? That wouldn't be that bad, would it?"_

_Blushing, Chuck said, "Sarah, what if they're listening? Isn't that a little.. awkward?"_

_"Only if you think about it," she replied. Seeing Chuck's blush deepen, she mumbled, "Fine, we'll take it slow." Feeling slightly rejected, she rolled as far away from Chuck as she could without bumping her arm._

_Chuck started to get back into his sleeping bag when Sarah said, "At least sleep in your bed; you'll be wiped the rest of the day if you sleep on the floor." Hesitantly, Chuck agreed and settled in next to her, shyly taking her hand. Sarah felt her anger ebb almost immediately, and she gave his hand a light squeeze. Both of them comfortable again, they soon succumbed to their dreams._

* * *

Ellie and Devon walked into the house, exhausted after long shifts at the hospital. "Gna shhhh n gahbid," Ellie tried to say around an enormous yawn.

"You're gonna go shoot the rabid?" Devon tried to decipher.

Ellie stifled another yawn. "Gosh. No, I'm going to go shower and then go to bed. Wait. You don't think those raccoons digging in our garbage the other day were rabid, do you?"

Devon laughed. "No, honey, I was just trying to figure out what the sleep-deprived doctor was trying to say." He kissed her softly on the lips and said, "I'll be up as soon as I have a tuna-tomato sandwich."

"Ew!" Ellie squealed. "Brush your teeth before you come to bed. I hate it when your breath smells like that stuff."

She wrinkled her nose and headed upstairs. She paused when she saw Chuck's bedroom door open. Finding it unusual for him to leave it open on a Sunday afternoon, when he was usually still asleep, she peaked in, only to find him sprawled out on the bed with his covers all over the floor. She shook her head, shut the door, and headed to the shower.

Ellie opened the door to the bathroom, and almost knocked herself out jumping backwards, hitting her head on the door.

"Ellie!" Sarah exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, this is just... Let me find a towel or something."

"Who are you and how did you get into my house?" Ellie demanded, grabbing the toilet plunger behind the door, waving it like a sword.

"Ellie, it's me, Sarah," Sarah hid behind the shower curtain, and continued, "I confused Chuck with my new hair color, too. I am so sorry.."

Ellie closed her eyes, dropped the plunger, and tried not to look at the brunette Sarah, who had obviously just gotten out of the shower. "Chuck didn't tell me you were coming..."

"I was unexpected. Gosh this is embarrassing. Is your head okay?" Sarah said all at once, now fully covered with a towel.

Ellie, blushing furiously, nodded her head a little more forcefully than necessary. "When did you dye your hair?" she asked.

Sarah was saved a response by Devon, who had by this time heard the commotion and had joined the women. "Uh, hi, Sarah. How's your arm doing?" he asked.

"It's fine, thanks for asking," Sarah replied, embarrassed he had to ask. "I think you should be more worried about Ellie. She hit her head on the door pretty hard..."

Devon, going into doctor mode, started towards Ellie's head, but Ellie ducked out of the way and said, "I'm fine, Devon." Turning towards Sarah she said, "What did you do to your arm?" she asked, curious, seeing Sarah obviously trying to hide the gauze on her arm with the towel.

"Uhh, the Orange Orange in.. Nebraska.. had an.. armed robbery. And somehow I managed to be the one working that day. I thought I'd come see Chuck while I had some vacation time," Sarah told them as convincingly as she could.

"Nebraska?/Awesome!" Ellie and Devon said at the same time.

"Yep! They have lots of cows there, and their dairy farms make really great ice cream." Seeing that Ellie at least was still confused, she asked, "Are you sure your head is okay? I really feel bad about that."

"Why is everyone standing in the bathroom?" a still sleepy-eyed Chuck asked, coming out of his room. His curly hair was sticking out in every way possible, and his running a hand through it did absolutely nothing to help.

"Sarah was just telling us about Nebraska," Ellie volunteered.

"Nebraska?" Chuck said, bewildered. Sarah subtly tried to get Chuck's attention, succeeded, and Chuck said in a more normal voice, "Oh, yea, she was in Nebraska for awhile. I... forgot." Ellie looked at him, doubtfully, and Devon tried to keep as stony face as was possible in the situation. "Breakfast anyone?" Chuck asked, trying to change the subject.

"Um, no, thanks though," Ellie said. "I think I'm going to crash." Chuck's relieved look made Ellie add, "Don't think this conversation is over," causing Chuck's face to have a weird panic spasm.

After Ellie was out of ear-shot, Devon asked, "How's your arm, really, Sarah?" He moved over and took the gauze off, causing Sarah to wince a bit. "Looks like Chuck actually paid attention in his Emergency 101 class. Good job, bro." Chuck allowed himself a small smile at the compliment. "You should really be wearing the sling, you know," Devon scolded.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I only took it off for the shower. Besides, I've had way worse. Trust me."

Devon, realizing that she was referring to her job, released a noise that sounded somewhat between a cough and a squeak. "Right. Well, I think I'm going to crash, too," and he followed Ellie out of ear-sight.

Sarah and Chuck watched Devon leave and an awkward silence followed. Trying to break it, Chuck asked, "Nebraska?" and arched his eyebrows to the Bartowski extreme.

"You try thinking up an excuse with Ellie about to smack you with a toilet plunger," Sarah retorted, trying to keep a straight face. Failing, the two of them cracked up. When they finally caught their breath, Sarah said, "I think I'll take you up on your offer for breakfast."

* * *

The week passed by incredibly fast for Casa Bartowski. Unbelievably, the two couples functioned relatively smoothly under the same roof. Devon kept to his exercise machines, Sarah joining him more often than not, when she wasn't sleeping; Chuck tried to smooth things over at the Buy More, epically failing as usual; and Ellie had only nagged Chuck about Sarah once.

_"Chuck, why didn't you tell me you and Sarah were getting back together?" Ellie asked Chuck after cornering him by the laundry machine._

_"I.. um, we're not 'together.' She's just staying here until she can get a place of her own," he replied._

_"You're sure about that?" Ellie questioned. Chuck shrugged. "Look, Chuck, you're my baby brother. I know how devastated you were when she dumped you a couple months ago..." _

_Chuck inserted a quick, "She didn't dump me!"causing Ellie to raise her eyebrows in the Bartowski fashion._

_"Whether you two broke up or not, you were crushed. You didn't leave the house. Your job suffered. Morgan was upset and complained the whole time to me." Ellie stopped, trying to find the best words for her rant. "All I know is that you need to be careful, Chuck. I can tell that you still have feelings for her, and it's easy to see that she still thinks the world revolves around you. I want to see you two back together again, I really do, but I don't want to see you get hurt again. I don't want you to waste another five years of your life on another girl."_

_Chuck was quiet for a moment before he responded. "Ellie, I know you're worried. You probably have every right to be.." seeing Ellie's eyes widen he quickly back-tracked and said, "But there isn't any reason to worry. By the end of the week, Sarah will know if she's leaving or not, and I'll tell you as soon as she decides."_

_Ellie's face instantly became sympathetic. "Is the Burbank Orange Orange not going to take her back?"_

_Chuck tried to hide a smile, "I'm sure they'll take her back if that's what she decides. Everything will be okay, sis," and he hugged his sister, her hugging a little harder than necessary._

_"I hope it will be," she thought._

* * *

Chuck and Sarah anxiously waited for the General's face to appear on Chuck's bedroom television screen. Ellie and Devon had gone grocery shopping, so it was perfectly safe to be briefed on their new assignment.

The screen turned on and the General looked at Sarah and Chuck, approval written all over her face. "I'm glad to see you're doing better, Agent Walker."

"I'm glad to be better, Ma'am," Sarah responded. "What did you do with the yellow Porsche I hot-wired? If it's still in good enough condition to use…"

The General looked at Sarah sternly. "Agent Walker, you drove it into the Bartowski fountain. Do you really think it's in working condition?" Beckman sighed, slowly giving into Sarah's puppy dog eyes. "It's in CIA garage right now. If we ever get it fixed, I might let you use it for a cover car." Sarah looked hopeful. "Only if it get fixed," Beckman cautioned.

The General shook her head, cleared it, and then said, "Back to business. Just so the two of you know, Casey and Alex officially met."

"That's great!" Chuck said, enthusiastically.

The General winced. "It was great until Casey found out that Alex now has a photographic memory. I was surprised he didn't burn the CIA headquarters to the ground.." She changed subjects, "Alex, unbeknownst to us, already knew that Casey was her father. In her attempt to escape from our holding facility, she ran across some government files. She now has all of Agent Whickmans and quite a few of our own files in her brain. Between Alex and you, Agent Bartowski, I sometimes wish there was no such thing as memory enhancement programs."

"Agent Whickman?" Sarah questioned.

"I didn't tell you?" Seeing Chuck and Sarah's confused faces she stated, "I didn't tell you. The late Professor Whickman used to be one of the NSA's most highly sought after researchers. He modified his facial structure so that no one would suspect he was a retired agent. Unfortunately for him, though, someone obviously found out his true identity."

"Is Casey with Alex now?" Chuck asked.

"Yes and no. Alex still refuses to talk to anyone, and as you can imagine, that frustrates Colonel Casey. He is a man of action not a man of patience. He did, however, come up with the mission I have for the two of you."

Neither Chuck nor Sarah responded, so the General continued, "Colonel Casey would like to get the old team back together. Since the CIA is new, and frankly, overwhelming for Alex, we think that it would be best if she had at least one handler who knows what she is going through." She pointedly looked at Chuck. "Casey and Chuck could continue with a cover at the Buy More and Alex and Sarah could both be stationed out of the Orange Orange."

"What about Agent Parker?" Sarah asked.

"Agent Parker will be Alex's cover boyfriend. He'll play the maintenance man cover again, this time at the Orange Orange. He is currently doing some under-cover work that will occupy most of his time, and as such, will not be around as much as you will be." Beckman folded her hands on top of the desk. "So, what do you two say?"

Sarah and Chuck looked at each other, then both started to speak at once. "I really don't think I want to continue to work with the CIA" and "Only if Chuck and I are finally allowed to date."

"What?" they both said at the same time, equally surprised.

"Sarah's question is easiest to answer," Beckman started. "Yes, you can date, move in together, whatever you want to do. So long as you can continue to complete missions, and you don't get anyone in trouble because of your relationship, I personally don't care." Beckman turned her gaze towards Chuck and said, "Explain."

Chuck took a deep breath. "Look, I know that it might not be you, intentionally at least, that made the last six months of my life miserable. All that I know is that I really don't want to work for you as long as I know that my whole life can be taken away from me in one swipe. You forced me to go to a spy-training facility. You ruined Sarah's and my relationship. The Buy More is about to close because of my messed up life. My family, well, at least Ellie, is getting to the place where they don't trust me anymore..."

"Agent Bartowski, I realize that being a spy isn't the easiest job in the world. I understand your frustration about Prague.."

"No, you don't understand!" Chuck exploded.

"Chuck," Beckman cautioned. Hold your temper, at least until I'm done explaining."

Chuck swallowed difficultly and sat down on his bed. Sarah put her hand on his shoulder, reassuringly, and sat down next to him.

"Thank you," she said, continuing, "I checked the surveillance cameras from that night. Whoever it was made it look like exactly what I said to do: give you my letter, walk you to the sedan, escort you to the facility." Chuck started to protest, but she held up a hand. "When we zoomed in and looked for what you say happened, that's when we could tell that something was wrong. The agent didn't show their face at all. The description you gave of him doesn't match anyone in our database."

Before Chuck could get a word in, she said, "What's ironic is that the footage we have from Alex's abduction is incredibly similar. The person managed to knock Parker out and get Alex out of the building without his face being exposed to camera, too. We think they may be the same person."

Chuck's mouth was agape. "What did they gain by me thinking Sarah was in love with someone else then?"

Beckman shrugged, "No one knows. The same could be said for Parker and Alex. What did he gain by capturing them, and then letting them escape? All I know is that as long as he is out there, you, Agent Walker, Agent Parker, Alex, and now potentially Colonel Casey could be in danger. I'd say that you should all go to the bunkers, but if you did that, we really would have no way of stopping them. I want you to capture this person before anyone else turns into a Professor.. Agent Whickman."

Chuck was quiet. "Chuck," Sarah started, "I know you're still mad at me, but I think, no, I know that we can catch this guy. We can make him pay for our stolen happily-ever-after."

"She's right, Chuck," the General continued. "Not only that, but with three trained agents there, not only will you and Alex be safe, but he will all but have to be lured out of hiding. What do you say?"

Chuck nodded, trying to comprehend everything. "I agree to keeping Alex safe, it's only fair since Casey kept me safe, but do we really need to involve Agent Parker? Our team has functioned perfectly in the past without a new addition to the team."

"Agent Parker is the only agent I have there that isn't compromised. I need at least one agent I can trust to keep a handle on the relationship aspects."

Chuck made a face, but admitted, only to himself, that she was right. "Fine. But he's not staying in my house."

"Deal," the general said. "Any other questions about your assignment, or can I go to my next meeting?"

"When is everyone arriving in Burbank?" Sarah asked.

The doorbell rang downstairs, startling Chuck and making Sarah smile.

"We'll be in touch," Beckman said and the screen went blank.

Chuck groaned. "Why did I agree to this again?" he asked.

Sarah leaned over and pecked him on the lips. "Because you know it's the right thing to do," and she flounced off the bed to answer the door, leaving a very surprised, yet mildly happy, Chuck sitting on the bed.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N** Wow. I totally failed the past few weeks! End of the summer semester, showing animals in the fair, and family vacations have pretty much dominated my time. To make up for my awfulness, this is the longest chapter yet._

_I have exactly one week before Rush, and then I don't know how much free time I'll have to update until college settles down a bit. I plan to update two/three times this week so that if I do go MIA again, you'll have a bit to work with!_

_Massive major super huge big thanks to everyone who reviewed in the last chapter & for putting up with my hectic schedule. I apologize if I didn't get back to you; a lot of my reviews were scattered in my inbox because it's been so long. I appreciate all of you! Enjoy!_

_

* * *

RECAP_

_The doorbell rang downstairs, startling Chuck and making Sarah smile._

_"We'll be in touch," Beckman said and the screen went blank._

_Chuck groaned. "Why did I agree to this again?" he asked._

_Sarah leaned over and pecked him on the lips. "Because you know it's the right thing to do," and she flounced off the bed to answer the door, leaving a very surprised, yet mildly happy, Chuck sitting on the bed._

_

* * *

_

Having the old team back together was a blessing and a curse for Chuck. It was great to have Casey back at the Buy More to try and help keep the store from closing, but it was obvious that Casey had other things on his mind.

"Casey. Earth to Casey," Morgan said, waving his hand in front of the big guy. "I think he's comatose, Chuck. Should we call in the troops?"

"What?" Chuck responded, having only just caught the last bit of the conversation while munching on his bagel. "Where're the troops?"

Chuck's tone of voice brought Casey back to reality, ready for action. "What happened, Bartowski?" he growled, causing Morgan to laugh.

Morgan gave Casey a friendly slap on the back. "It's good to have you back, Casey. I missed your battle-like stances at the lunch table."

Realizing that there was no danger, Casey snorted and went back to daydreaming.

"Chuck, did you see the new girl working at the Orange Orange? Her name is Alex," Morgan said, dreamily, unaware that Casey was listening to the conversation. "Gosh. She looks a lot like Ellie, don't you think? Just a bit shorter…"

Casey crushed the soda can he had been drinking, spraying soda all over Morgan's shirt. "Oops," he said, sarcastically.

"Hey, it's no big deal! People crush cans with their bare hands at the lunch table all the time, especially when they're under stress. And it's especially stressful coming back to a job that could be taken from you at any moment, right?"

Morgan stood up, his face alight with awe; he mimicked what Casey had just done to Chuck from behind Casey, and said, "I'll go ask Lester if he has a shirt I can borrow for the day." Morgan was still pretending to crush a soda can on his way out the door.

"It's a harmless crush, Casey. He's never gotten anywhere with Ellie and he won't with Alex, either. As long as she's at least pretending to date someone, Morgan will respect boundaries," Chuck said in defense of his friend.

"It's not Grimes I'm worried about," Casey growled. "It's all the other Buy More freaks. Jeff and Lester go over there for yogurt every free break they have."

"They might just be going to see Sarah. She does look really great with her hair dyed blonde again…" Chuck started, but ended quickly when he saw Casey's face. "Why don't we go say hi? I'm sure they'd appreciate some company." Chuck was glad he suggested it when he saw Casey's brief happiness at the idea.

The two agents walked out of the Buy More, avoiding Big Mike and the recently appointed Assistant Manager, Anna Wu. Big Mike making her the top dog really had been a good idea, in Chuck's mind at least. All the guys listened to her, more or less, and she could be very intimidating when nasty customers came into the Buy More. She was a good fit for the job; they just had to wait and see if she would be able to keep the store from closing.

Alex had warmed up significantly in the past couple of weeks she had been in Burbank. She was still incredibly shy, but she talked to the members of the team when she had to. Alex had also shown an inept skill in self-defense; she had single-handedly knocked out a man who had tried to steal a purse from an elderly customer. Sarah had been chastised about letting the asset get in danger, but it was nice to know that Alex could handle herself if she had to.

"Hey, Chuck," Alex said, her face lighting up, but then falling when she saw who was behind her, "Dad," she managed, before turning around and pretending to be busy cleaning the counter.

"Hi, Alex!" Chuck responded, then added, "Where's Sarah?"

"She and Agent Aaron Parker are in the Castle. They figured I'd be safe enough up here, what with all the surveillance cameras and stuff. Did you guys want the regular?" mainly pointing the question towards her dad.

"Um, no, I think I'll go see what's going on below," Chuck said. "Do you want anything, Casey?" he asked.

Casey grunted out a, "Sure." An awkward silence followed Chuck towards the freezer door.

Not wanting to leave the two completely uneasy with each other, Chuck volunteered, "So Alex, I read your paper about the right to bear guns the other day. Did you know your dad is a major supporter of that stuff too?"

Alex looked up with renewed interest at her father, and Casey cleared his throat before starting in with, "Where do you stand on the Second Amendment?"

* * *

Shortly after Chuck left, Casey got a page from the Buy More. Hating to leave his daughter when she was finally opening up to him, Casey started to silence it, but Alex noticed.

"Dad, I know it's just a cover job, but you should probably go back, shouldn't you? The store is in the process of closing. What if there really is an emergency?" Casey grunted. "I'll give you some more yogurt when you come back," she said as Casey headed towards the door.

"It was nice talking about gun rights with you. Maybe you can show me your paper sometime?" Casey asked, still not wanting to leave.

"Sure, Dad," and she waved as he left, already bored with no other customers in sight. She turned around to serve herself some yogurt when she heard the bell above the door ring. Looking at who had come in, she rolled her eyes and asked, "Do you two want the regular?"

Jeff and Lester looked around, cautiously, and Lester asked, "Is your dad gone?"

"Yes he..." Alex stopped. She asked, suspiciously, "You sent him the page, didn't you?"

"Guilty." Jeff said. "Can I have pumpkin, mango, and oreo in a cone, please."

"Uh, sure," Alex said. The combination sounded nasty to her, but, hey, the customer was always right.. Even if the customer was really weird.

Jeff watched her fill his cone silently for a few moments, but then said, in all seriousness as it dripped on her hand a bit, "Can you lick it?"

Lester punched him. "Don't creep her out, big guy. She won't come to our 'you know what' if you act all weird."

"Come to your what?" Alex asked, handing the un-licked cone to Jeff.

Lester looked one way, then the other, as though he expected someone to be listening in. He handed her a flyer, "We have an audition at the Skeeter Barn for Jeffster. We can pick you up if you want to come," he said, sliding his hand across the counter. His hand came off a bit dusty, and he wiped it on the back of Jeff's shirt.

Alex looked at the flyer, and said, "Lester, the audition is almost a month away. I have no idea what I'm doing that night."

"No worries, doll face," he said in his idea of a suave voice, "You just let Uncle Lester know when you find out. It would be a night of new beginnings."

"What would be a night of new beginnings?" Morgan asked, just coming through the door. He walked over to Lester, and clapped him on the back.

"Watching a Kea bird eat the strips of rubber around a car window in New Zealand would be a new beginning for me," Jeff stated, one of his eyes winking awkwardly.

The Orange Orange was silent for a few moments, but was broken by Alex saying, "Jeff and Lester just asked me to go to an audition of theirs. Would you want to come too, Morgan?"

Lester looked offended. "Listen, lady, we only asked you. If we wanted Grimes to go with us, we would have asked him!" Lester tried to throw his napkin in the air, but it stuck to his hand. Still trying to create a scene, though, he said, "Fine. I see how it is. You go with Morgan and see if I care. Fine!" and marched out of the Orange Orange, not knowing he had a 'Kick Me' sign that Morgan had stuck on his back. Alex tried to hold in a laugh.

Alex said, laughing, "Tell Lester I'm sorry I offended him, okay?" Jeff nodded and walked out, licking his ice-cream cone.

"They are so funny!" Alex stated, "How can my dad not like them?"

"Eh, you know. Sometimes they get annoying. Did I ever tell you about the time they got their tongues stuck to a metal pole outside the Buy More? That was great."

Alex laughed then asked, "Did you want some yogurt, too, Morgan?"

"Uh, no, actually I just had a question for you. Would you want to play Halo tonight?"

Alex was definitely not expecting that. "What?"

"It's not a date or anything," Morgan started, but then he realized what he had just said. "Seriously, it would just be two mature adults playing a video game, maybe we could order in some pizza..."

Alex interrupted him, "I'd like that, Morgan! Really, I would," but then her face fell, and she said, almost bitterly, "But I don't know how my boyfriend would feel about that. I'd have to ask him, okay?"

Morgan looked crestfallen. "You're dating someone?" Alex lowered her eyes and nodded her head. "Oh," was all he could say, but then he managed, "I guess maybe we could still hang out sometime, though, right?" Inspired by the idea, he continued, "I mean, what's to say your boyfriend can't come play Halo, too? Yea, that's a great idea! I can get Chuck and Sarah to come, too. It would be fun!"

Alex looked up at him, a smile reaching her eyes. "I'd really like that, Morgan." She pulled in her bottom lip and bit it, nervous, but then she said, "Would you want to go to Jeffster's audition with me?"

Morgan was taken aback, but said, almost too quickly, "I'd love to!"

She smiled and said, "Cool." The door bell rang, and Alex, wanting to get back to business, reached over and gave Morgan a quick peck on the cheek. "We'll talk details later, okay? Come back on your next lunch break."

Stunned, Morgan walked out of the door, not even glancing at the woman who only looked to be ordering yogurt. He didn't hear Alex's gasp, or see the look in her eyes as her brain remembered something. It was hard to pay attention to details like that when you had just been kissed by a girl like Alex.

* * *

Chuck was creeping down the stairs as quietly as he could. He could hear Sarah and Aaron talking to the General, and if there was one thing Chuck had mastered after becoming a spy, eaves-dropping was high on the list.

Chuck, as usual, was overcome with jealousy when he looked at Parker. It was debatable, but Aaron looked like he was half-an-inch taller than Chuck. His dark dirty-blonde hair in perfect little spikes complimented his neatly trimmed beard and golden-brown eyes. His muscles made him look more like Casey, but his intellect was closer to Chuck's, as he had graduated from a prestigious university, too: Yale.

"There still haven't been any sightings of Chuck's father?" Chuck heard the director ask.

"No, Ma'am. As far as we can tell, whoever has him doesn't want to hurt him, or else they would have killed him by now," Parker replied.

Chuck gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth as soon as the noise left it. He looked at the group, and decided they hadn't heard him. His father was missing?

"It hasn't even been 48 hours, though," Sarah injected. "There's no way to tell if they want to hurt him or not yet."

"I agree with Agent Walker. Two days isn't enough time to say his life isn't in jeopardy," Beckman said.

"When are we going to tell Chuck about…" Sarah trailed off.

"We don't tell him anything until we know something concrete. As far as we know, Mr. Bartowski is still living life off the radar. It's possible he hasn't even been captured. We have no records of SPI, and if there isn't any threat, there is no need for us to investigate too deeply, " Beckman replied.

"SPI, Ma'am?" Sarah asked.

"We received an anonymous note that alerted us to Mr. Bartowski being missing. I don't know anything more about them that you do, I'm afraid," the General answered.

Sarah thought for a few minutes, then said,"General, why couldn't Chuck be here? It's regarding his family, after all" Sarah questioned, her voice tinged with doubt of the General's decision.

"That would be my doing," Parker said. "I like Chuck as much as the next guy, but he hasn't contributed to the past few side missions at all. Why isn't he flashing on any of the information I find? I thought he was the intersect."

"He is the intersect, Agent Parker." Beckman turned her attention to Sarah, "Is there any reason why Chuck wouldn't be able to flash right now?"

Sarah thought for a couple seconds. "I don't think so… Is it possible that the intersect doesn't have any information on SPI?"

Beckman pursed her lips. "It's possible. Surely, though, there is something in the files that Chuck would recognize. Or if Chuck doesn't recognize it, why not ask Alex? She's been reading everything we send her, hasn't she?"

"Is that really a good idea, General?" Parker questioned. "The more knowledge she has, the more dangerous she is. If she should turn sides for any reason, it could potentially be worse than losing Chuck, since Alex can search her mind at will."

"I understand your concern, Aaron, but I don't see any reason why Alex would become rogue. Her family and friends are all CIA." The director paused. "You're right, though. We don't know how much Alex's brain can hold. Until we can find someone who can return Alex's brain to its original state, we should take caution. Thank you for reminding me."

"So what, just because Chuck can't flash he's less of an agent?" Sarah started up again. Chuck was thankful at least one person was on his side. "He has proven himself over and over again…"

"Yes, Sarah, I know Chuck is a good agent. I didn't know what Aaron wanted to discuss, so I felt that I should be careful. Chuck is already barely speaking to me, and the last thing I wanted was for him to take offense," Beckman said. "I agree with Agent Parker's assessment, though. It is odd for Chuck to have stopped flashing again."

"Has anything new been found out about Chuck and Alex's captor?" Sarah asked, the thought of SPI forgotten momentarily.

"Actually, I did find some new evidence. Should I show it to Chuck?" Aaron asked.

"Please do," Beckman replied. "Would one of you be kind enough to call him down here?"

Throughout the past bit of conversation, Chuck had been trying to hold his breath to keep from sneezing. Failing, he let out a giant, "Achoo!"

"I assume that would be Chuck," Beckman said dryly.

Chuck walked in, and ungracefully tripped over a backpack that had been discarded by the stairwell, and he caught himself on the table and chairs, after knocking one of the chairs over. "Hi, everyone!" he said, trying to cover up for his very klutzy moment. "Does anyone want some yogurt? I'm sure Alex wouldn't mind catering…"

"How long have you been listening in, Chuck," Beckman asked, sternly.

"Listening in? Me?" Chuck scoffed. Seeing that the three agents in the room obviously knew he was lying, he gulped, nervously, and said, "Since you said my father was captured. Has he been?"

Beckman looked at Chuck, sympathy written all over her face. "I'd like to tell you we knew for sure if he had been or not, but Agent Bartowski, you know how your father is. If he doesn't want the CIA to find him, then he'll stay off the grid." Chuck looked unhappy with this answer. "Chuck, we're doing all we possibly can do to make sure he's safe." Chuck nodded his head, acknowledging the General's efforts.

Switching back to her business voice, Beckman said, "Now, Agent Parker, you said you had some new information to show us?"

"I do. We were finally able to recover a little bit of sound from the surveillance cameras at the university. We're not sure if the voice matches Chuck's kidnapper or not, but it's the best thing we've come up with so far."

Chuck thought back to what his captor had looked like. He was Chuck's height, maybe a bit shorter, with dark brown hair and nearly black eyes. Chuck was glad Agent Parker didn't look anything like that man. He shuddered, trying not to think about it.

Parker pulled a voice recorder out of the briefcase he had on the table and pressed play. There was a bit of dialogue, mainly Alex's terrified prattling, but then Chuck heard the man's voice, "Shut up and move." Chuck felt his eyes start to spin.

_A cup. A Barbie doll. A streetlight. A letter. A cup._

"Chuck, what did you see?" Sarah asked. Chuck didn't say anything. "Chuck!" Sarah said, this time a bit more demanding.

"I think the voice belongs to an Agent Shaw," Chuck started, "but I don't think he's alone in this. There was a combined signature on a file: Barbie doll & Iverson." Chuck looked up at Sarah, confused. "Your name was in the file."

Sarah looked at Chuck, her face losing all color. "Iverson?" she asked, confused, trying to control her emotions, but obviously failing. Her face lit up with recognition. "What did it say about Barbie doll?"

Chuck, concerned by Sarah's reaction, but angry that Sarah had yet another connection to that night in Prague, said, "Why were you on the file, Sarah?"

Sarah was visibly trembling, "What did it say about Barbie doll?" she repeated again, demandingly. She was nervously pulling on the sling around her neck, trying to move it like it was strangling her.

Deciding he wasn't going to get any information from her, Chuck said, "The file said Barbie doll was alive."

Sarah's eyes got big, and she looked like she was about to laugh and cry at the same time. "Alive?" she said, almost breathlessly. Shock was taking over her system, making her need to sit down. She tried to sit down, but the chair Chuck had knocked over hadn't been righted yet, and she crumbled to the floor, her head narrowly missing the table.

"Sarah!" she heard her name being called by many voices, but all she could think was, "Iverson," before she gave into the darkness.

* * *

_**A/N **Sorry for the cliff hanger; it was getting pretty long! Update will be out Wednesday/Thursday. Let me know how I'm doing! I'll try to incorporate your ideas into the story :o)_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N** Thanks so much for the reviews! It's always awesome to see you have mail from fan-fic. I swear, reviews are better than cotton candy! :) I hope this chapter clears up all the confusion from chapter #7. If it doesn't, please let me know, and I'll fix it in chapter #9. Enjoy!_

* * *

_RECAP_

_Deciding he wasn't going to get any information from her, Chuck said, "The file said Barbie doll was alive."_

_Sarah's eyes got big, and she looked like she was about to laugh and cry at the same time. "Alive?" she said, almost breathlessly. Shock was taking over her system, making her need to sit down. She tried to sit down, but the chair Chuck had knocked over hadn't been righted yet, and she crumbled to the floor, her head narrowly missing the table._

_"Sarah!" she heard her name being called by many voices, but all she could think was, "Iverson," before she gave into the darkness.

* * *

_

"I think she's coming around," Chuck said, minutes after Sarah had collapsed during the brief. "Sarah, can you hear me?"

Sarah's eyes fluttered open. She looked up into Chuck's face, then slowly focused and saw Aaron's concerned face, too. "What happened?" she asked.

"Um… You fainted," Chuck said, offering her a hand to stand up.

Sarah looked at his hand, making a point to stand up without his help. "I don't faint," Sarah venomously, "Ever." She emphasized the last word.

"Well, you did. Maybe you're more of a girl than you thought?" Chuck teased.

Sarah glared at him. "At least I don't faint at the sight of needles," she remarked in a clipped voice, still feeling betrayed by her body's lack of control over her emotions.

Chuck tried to hold in a laugh, but he failed and it came out as a snort-like noise. Sarah looked at him questioningly, trying to decide if he was laughing at her or not, but made a point of ignoring him. "Where's Beckman?" she asked.

"She had an emergency come up while we were waiting for you to come around. She said she'll be back as soon as she got everything straightened out," Chuck replied

Aaron watched the two interact, debating if he should interject or not. Deciding he should, he said, "Whether you admit to fainting or not, Sarah, you have information that can help us. I didn't know Agent Shaw was in on this. I have my own personal vendetta for him," he said, lips pursed tightly. "Who is Barbie doll?"

"Barbie doll?" Sarah said, her face losing color again.

"Whoa, Sarah, you should sit down," Chuck said, as she started to sway again. Sarah let him help her into a chair, which alerted Chuck more than anything else that this was a serious subject.

It was that moment that Beckman decided to appear on the screen again. "My apologies," she said.

Sarah took a deep breath. "This information is classified, just so the two of you know." Aaron and Chuck both nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

She looked towards the General, trying to decide if she could share her personal story with her or not. "Please continue, Agent Walker," Beckman said, as gently as she could.

Sarah took a deep breath and began, "My life, surprisingly, started out normal, without all the spy drama. My mom and dad were happy. Then my dad lost his job..." She absentmindedly began playing with a hang-nail. "My mom and dad started to fight a lot. Mom didn't like my dad's con job." Her eyes glazed, lost in the past. "She put up with it for awhile. On my tenth birthday, Dad took me to do a quick job, and Mom left town, taking my older sister, Jenn, with her."

Chuck's amazing memory clicked. "Jenn," he said. "You were crying out her name in a nightmare you had, right after Devon had fixed your arm."

Sarah smiled, sadly, "That's the one," she said. "My mom, at first, wanted to take me with her, but my dad didn't want to lose my help. He needed me, and I stayed with him. Mom hated me for choosing him, and I didn't hear from her or Jenn for years." Sarah's eyes started to fill with tears, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"When I turned 16, I got a phone call from a hospital in New York. My mom and Jenn had been in a six car pile-up. Neither survived. Dad didn't show it, but it tore him up. We moved to San Diego, and I took on my sister's nickname, Jenny, as my new alias."

Her voice caught, but she continued, "Dad and I continued to do our work. If it wasn't for mom and Jenn's death, I don't think he ever would have been caught… I don't know if I would have joined the CIA, either. Their deaths were a turning point for both of us."

Chuck processed this. Sarah had mentioned she had a sister when they played "Know Ya!" all that time ago, but he had thought it was a cover story. A lot of pieces from her life were still missing, but in the past few minutes, he had learned more about Sarah's life than he ever dreamed of getting to learn.

He took her hand, letting her know he was there. Her amazing mask already in place, Sarah smiled at him, tears completely gone from her eyes.

Agent Parker looked sympathetic, his eyes cast down. "I'm sorry for your loss." He softly cleared his throat and continued, "But that doesn't explain who Barbie doll is."

"I always used to call Jenn 'Barbie doll.' We played with them together all the time when we were younger." She looked at Chuck pointedly, "That is the Barbie doll you saw in the file, right? It can't be a coincidence that it had our last name on it."

Chuck flashed. _Jenn Iverson. Car accident. Ice cream. A computer mouse. A Coca-Cola can. _He shook his head. "Whoo," he stated, "Who would have thought your sister was a CIA agent, too?"

"She what!" Sarah started. "General, did you know anything about this?" Sarah's eyes had turned an ugly shade of angry, which made Chuck want to leave the room.

"I assure you, I had no idea that you even had a sister. It isn't in your file," Beckman said, typing something into her computer. Jenn's picture came up on the computer screen, allowing the briefing room a glance at her. She was a dead-ringer for Sarah, from the green eyes to the blonde hair.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, softly. "We do have an Agent Iverson in the data system. She's…" Beckman stopped.

"What?" Sarah said, impatient. "She's alive, isn't she? How did she survive the car accident? I saw her coffin lowered into the grave myself. Heck, I kissed my mother's cheek before she was buried. How can Jenn be in the system, and I not know about it?" Sarah demanded; her voice clipped with fury.

"Did you see your sister's body?" Chuck asked, quietly.

"Of course I did! I…" Sarah trailed off, realizations lighting her features. She choked out, "They said her body was too mangled to be shown at the burial. I didn't…"

"It's okay," Chuck said, enveloping her in a hug. Sarah closed her eyes, relaxed for all of two seconds, and then began her rant again.

"Why doesn't my file say I had a sister? How does something like that…"

"Agent Walker, please calm down," Beckman said. "Anything that far back in the system was taken to the grave with Director Graham. Your sister, I'm sorry to say, hasn't been heard or seen of in several years, not since her previous assignment in Thailand."

Sarah was quiet. Chuck tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but Sarah moved away too fast. "General, you'll excuse me if I say I need to put this mission on hold and search for my sister."

"Sarah, you can't just leave," Chuck started…

"I don't think you're going to have to look too hard for your sister," Agent Parker said. "Either that, or her identical twin is talking to Alex right now."

The room, as one, looked to where Agent Parker was pointing in the surveillance screens. Their mouths agape, they saw Jenn nonchalantly leave the Orange Orange with a cone. Alex was massaging her temples, trying not to look as confused as she really was.

"Jenn," Sarah breathed. She dashed out of the brief and up the stairs, Chuck close on her heels. Aaron stood there, completely in shock.

He came out of it to Beckman saying, "I trust you can keep everyone in line, Agent Parker? Everyone here is severely compromised with their relationships. Am I doing the right thing, Aaron?" Beckman looked crestfallen, "Will their relationships get in the way?"

Aaron debated how to answer, but finally said, "If I may be so bold, I think that the relationships will help strengthen these spies. True, it's unorthodox for a spy to be tied down, but that's what this operation is: completely and utterly new. There's no other agency in the world that has two agents with memory enhancements. Maybe, in this case, the relationships will help to make Chuck and Alex stronger."

Before Beckman could continue, he said, "However, I think that everyone here could use some basic training. Yes we've gone on a few small side missions, but before Chuck and Alex can help us find Chuck's father, if he is indeed missing, locate Jenn, and figure out the mystery of SPI, they need to learn more. It's dangerous to send two new agents into the field with no training whatsoever."

Both Beckman and Parker thought of the minor missions they'd been on. They had thought they'd had a tip on a Frank Henry, but after prepping the team and raiding the donut shop in the next state, they decided it had been a false lead. Alex had dutifully stayed in the car, much to Chuck's disappointment.

"What do you suggest, Agent Parker?" Beckman inquired.

"Well, since you have involved Chuck's brother, Devon, have him train them in the cardio portion, Casey can train on weapons, and Sarah can teach hand-to-hand. I'll monitor their work, and start teaching them the finer aspects of how to be a spy. I know we're in a time crunch, but they need time to train. Just because they have a great brain doesn't mean they're in shape to take on someone like Agent Shaw."

Beckman pursed her lips. "I agree with your assessment on them needing to train; that is something I have neglected. You have my permission to begin immediately. Please keep me informed," and with that, she was gone.

Aaron was briefly pleased that she had liked his idea. He had wanted to suggest it to the team for some time now, but he wasn't comfortable with them yet. If Sarah had been single, he would be trying harder to woo her, but it was obvious the two love-birds were head over heels for each other. The on-off couple was just one example of how everyone in this tiny Burbank setting had known each other for years. He wasn't going to get in their way.

Agent Parker sat down. Shaw had been his mentor, his guide. Everything he learned he had learned from Shaw. The CIA had recruited both of them out of Yale, and Daniel had convinced Aaron to join. Aaron considered Daniel a brother, and they both had become model spies. It wasn't until Dan met his sister, Evelyn, that things started to turn sour.

Shaw had loved Evelyn, and Aaron could see nothing wrong their relationship. Soon after, they were married, and Aaron and Daniel were even closer friends than before. The two of them went on missions together, often leaving Evelyn behind, much to her displeasure.

He had witnessed his sister and brother-in-law's fight. He and Daniel were on their way to Brazil, and Eve wanted to come with. She had had a heart transplant when she was younger. Dan was against her joining, and he told her the CIA didn't want someone with that severely compromised of health in the field. She had stormed out of their apartment, and went walking down the street.

Aaron hit his fist on the table; she had been innocent…

Aaron closed his eyes, willing the memories to go away, but he was too late. He saw his sister being lowered into the ground, shot just for walking down the street. The shooter hadn't taken anything from Eve; it was totally random.

He remembered punching Dan's nose at the funeral, breaking it, sulking away from the man who had failed to take care of his little sister. It was the last time he had spoken to his brother-in-law.

He had seen him since, briefly, on television as a bodyguard for the President of the United States. He knew his brother-in-law had been honored for his work in the field, several times over in fact. Why on earth would he have turned rogue? Could it be possible Chuck had flashed wrong? Aaron sighed, and looked over at the computer screen, inspiration hitting him like a semi-truck. He leaned his neck this way, then that, popped it, and started to look for the truth.

* * *

"Jenn!" Sarah screamed, chasing after the girl who had just left the store. It was no use, though. She had disappeared into thin air. Sarah stormed back into the store, and started to pace. Chuck, who was trying to figure out what had happened from Alex, watched.

"What did she say?" Chuck asked her, for the second time. Sarah's pacing was distracting him to no end.

"She ordered a vanilla cone, and then she left. It was horrible, Chuck. How do you always act like you have no idea who they are, when really, you know so much about them?"

Sarah stopped pacing, much to Chuck's relief. "You knew about her and didn't tell me?" she said accusingly.

"I… I didn't know I knew about her. I read all the files you guys give me, and I guess she was in one of them. She married an Agent Shaw, but she kept her maiden name so that people wouldn't get confused."

"There's that name, Agent Shaw, again!" Sarah said, frustrated. "Who is he?"

"According to the files I've read, he's a body guard for the President. He's a decorated spy for the US, and he hasn't ever done anything that would raise suspicion. He had several missions in the past, but none of them were anything major, just your basic under-cover jobs. I don't understand what he's after."

The trio was silent, digesting what Alex had said. Just then, Casey could be seen running across the parking lot, his face an ugly shade of purple. He didn't slow down fast enough, and he would have run into the glass door of the Orange Orange had Sarah not jumped up and opened it for him. Alex was trying very hard not to laugh at his demeanor.

His eyes wild, he looked around until he saw Alex was safe, sitting on the floor by the counter. "What happened?" he demanded. "I just got a code Orange from Beckman." As though he just realized his daughter was on the floor, he asked, "Are you hurt?"

Alex rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Dad. Trust me, you didn't miss anything. Sarah's supposedly dead sister came and ordered some yogurt, but other than that…"

Casey's face changed from anger to surprise. "You have a sister?"

"It's a long story," Sarah curtly replied. Chuck, sensing that Sarah didn't want to spill her guts again, started to fill Casey in on what he had missed, Alex adding in what Chuck forgot.

Sarah tuned them out. Jenn wouldn't have just come in here for yogurt. There had to be something else.

No one noticed Sarah walking around the Orange Orange, retracing the steps of her sister. It was then Sarah saw what she was looking for. Something had been stuck in the front of the counter, sticking up just enough for someone to see. As if it was a dream, Sarah walked over to it, and pulled out an envelope.

Aaron had come upstairs by this time, and was watching the group from by the door. He was as surprised as Sarah was that Jenn had left something. He walked over to her, making the rest of the group notice their movements. Everyone watched as Sarah opened the envelope. A picture floated to the floor.

Chuck reached down and picked it up, his face turning ashen.

"Chuck?" Alex asked. "What is it?"

"My dad," he answered. "Your sister has my dad." He handed it off to Alex, and it became obvious that Chuck's father really was missing. In the picture, Mr. Bartowski was tied up, and Jenn was standing to the side of him, pointing a gun at his head.

Sarah pulled out a piece of paper, cleared her throat, and read aloud:

_Sam,_

_I've missed you. I wish better circumstances had brought us back together, but life isn't always like we want it to be. Chin up, Lemon. You'll see me soon enough._

_As you can see, Mr. Bartowski is with us. We won't hurt him as long as he cooperates. You won't find him unless you play by our rules. I'm sure your intersect can translate the rest of the letter for you. Don't worry, Chuck's little intersect secret is safe with me._

_Your Barbie doll, _

_Jenn, SPI  
_

Sarah handed the letter off to Chuck. "Sarah, are you okay?" Chuck asked, taking the letter from her hand.

"I'm fine, Chuck," she replied. If she hadn't crossed her arms, Chuck would have believed her. Sarah always did that when she was trying to hold herself together. Realizing that everyone was still staring at her, Sarah said, "What are you waiting for? Read it, Chuck."

Chuck looked at the letter, a slight scent of lemon wafting up to him from it. "_What a pleasant_ smell," he thought to himself. He gazed at the symbols. They were the exact same as the ones on the letter Sarah had given him that first night. He gave over to the flash, his face contorting awkwardly_. A pen cap. A china hutch. Ritz Crackers. A mirror. A white picket fence._

"We're supposed to show up at Jeffster's audition. We'll get our next clue there." Chuck's mouth was drawn into a straight line. "That's almost a month from now!" he exploded. "What if she hurts my dad before then?"

"They said they wouldn't hurt him, Chuck," Casey said. "We have to take their word for it." Alex, suddenly needing reassurance that everything would be okay, reached over and put her arms around her dad in an embrace, her face buried in his side. Casey was surprised, but after his shock wore off, he hesitantly put his arm around his daughter, pulling her in tighter for the hug.

No one knew what to say. Finally, Aaron broke the silence and said, "I suppose, if we can't do anything else, we should start training." The group looked at him, and he continued, "It's not like we can send Chuck and Alex on a mission without self-defense skills." They looked at each, conversing silently, and as one, agreed.

* * *

_**A/N** So, confusion cleared up? I hope so! Next update Friday/Saturday. Have a lovely week! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N** Whoops, this is definitely not Friday or Saturday! Life got in the way. Anyway, I have two more chapters I want to get posted before the week is over, so you can look forward to that!_

_Okay, just to explain the relationship dynamics: Evelyn is Aaron Parker's younger sister. Evelyn married Daniel Shaw. Eve was shot, and Shaw remarried Jenn Iverson. Jenn is Sarah's sister. Jenn and Evelyn aren't the same person (though that would make a really cool plot line if they were!). Hope that clears things up!_

_Thanks SOO much to all who reviewed! (especially my regular reviewers, you know who you are lol!) I really can't get over the fact that people actually read this; it's very exciting :) Thanks to TeamBartowski for reminding me about Casey's term lady-feelings and to ArmySFC for the training ideas! If you have ideas on where the story should go from here, I always love to hear about them. Enough of this randomness, on with the story!

* * *

_

_RECAP_

_Chuck looked at the letter, a slight scent of lemon wafting up to him from it. "What a pleasant smell," he thought to himself. He gazed at the symbols. They were the exact same as the ones on the letter Sarah had given him that first night. He gave over to the flash, his face contorting awkwardly. A pen cap. A china hutch. Ritz Crackers. A mirror. A white picket fence._

_"We're supposed to show up at Jeffster's audition. We'll get our next clue there." Chuck's mouth was drawn into a straight line. "That's almost a month from now!" he exploded. "What if she hurts my dad before then?"_

_"They said they wouldn't hurt him, Chuck," Casey said. "We have to take their word for it." Alex, suddenly needing reassurance that everything would be okay, reached over and put her arms around her dad in an embrace, her face buried in his side. Casey was surprised, but after his shock wore off, he hesitantly put his arm around his daughter, pulling her in tighter for the hug._

_No one knew what to say. Finally, Aaron broke the silence and said, "I suppose, if we can't do anything else, we should start training." The group looked at him, and he continued, "It's not like we can send Chuck and Alex on a mission without self-defense skills." They looked at each, conversing silently, and as one, agreed.

* * *

  
_

Then next couple of weeks flew by for Chuck. Parker kept them all so busy; it was all he could do to drag himself into bed at night.

Sarah was being a very good girl. Since Chuck had asked for space, she had been incredibly well-behaved about not over-stepping his boundaries. Yes, they shared a bed, but it was strictly professional... Usually. Most mornings Chuck would wake up to find Sarah sprawled out all over him, and he had to fight the urge to kiss her awake.

He knew it was time to move their relationship to the next step, but it never seemed to be a good time to do that. Sarah was always busy looking for anything that would lead her to her sister. She still worked at the Orange Orange, but instead of helping customers, more often than not she was in Castle.

Sarah had been very moody, making Casey often mumble about "lady-feelings." Just last week, she had thrown a plastic fork, very accurately Chuck remembered, at his head when he hadn't responded to her question fast enough. He shuddered to think of what might have happened if she had had access to her knives.

As hard as it was to deal with a frustrated Sarah, Chuck understood how she was feeling. He spent all of his free time looking for his dad, reading whatever he could, trying to get a flash that would actually help them find something. Unfortunately, SPI was doing an incredibly good job at hiding any and all information from him.

They had already raided the place SPI had kept Alex and Aaron when they had been captured; the place he had initially flashed on that night Sarah had come to him. It was clean. Zilp, zilch, nada. It frustrated Chuck to no end that they had to play by the bad guys' rules, having to wait and wait and wait for Jeffster's audition.

In Chuck's mind, now was the most opportune moment to start an official relationship with Sarah. They both needed the extra support because, frankly, thinking about MIA loved ones was one of the worst things to have playing through your head before you fall asleep. Chuck could think of several things he'd like to do with Sarah at night…

"Chuck, concentrate," someone said, snapping him out of his mood. He looked down at his hands, and he realized that the nunchucks in his hands were starting to slip, again.

Sarah was standing across the mat from him, nunchucks ready to attack him. Devon had cleared her for training again. He, of all people, understood the need for exercise, and how difficult it was to work out with a sling. She was lucky, Devon had said. She wouldn't even have that horrible of a scar from the bullet.

Chuck sighed, stressed from a big day at work, and especially stressed that Sarah, or Sam in retrospect, was so dead set on him attacking her. He couldn't get the image of her lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom out of his head.

He gestured, helplessly, "Sarah, I can't flash…"

Sarah mimicked his gesture, interrupting him. "I can't flash!" she said in a very good impersonation of Chuck's voice. Sarah was obviously in one of her moods. "Chuck, listen to me. You have to learn to defend yourself against me, because knowing you, you'll see my sister, Jenn, and flip since she looks so much like me. If you can't even fight against me, how are you going to stop my look alike from hurting your dad?"

"There's nothing that even says they want to hurt my dad!" Chuck argued. "We have no idea what they want. They haven't given us anything to go on since that stupid letter. What do they even want from us?"

"You know I'd tell you if I knew, Chuck." Sarah sighed. "Are you going to attack me or not? I have stuff I can be doing if we're not going to train."

Chuck took a deep breath. It was against everything he had ever learned to hit a girl. This wasn't just any girl, though. It was Sarah: sexy, tough, knife-throwing… Chuck shook his head. She was right. Jenn would look just like her. Chuck closed his eyes and imagined a taller Sarah with a tiny mole above her lip. She was going to hurt his friends, his dad, Ellie, and… Sarah. He flashed.

Before he knew what he was doing, he spun the nunchucks and started towards Sarah. In seconds, he had her on the ground, her body making a solid whoosh against the mats.

Chuck opened one eye hesitantly, trying to make it so he could see as little of what he had done as possible. Sarah started to laugh.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Chuck! That was really good. I haven't been flipped like that in forever!"

"I…I didn't hurt you?" Chuck asked in disbelief. "Is your arm okay?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Chuck, I've had way worse things done to me than just being flipped by a nerd."

"Hey," Chuck protested, "I'm not just any nerd. I'm like a super-nerd with super powers."

"Super nerd? What kind of super-name is that? What about Brainiac? I could put up with that."

"Um, no. That was one of Superman's principal foes. I'm not the bad guy!"

"You sure about that"? Sarah said, flirtily. She leaned in close, Chuck, like a magnet, drawing closer, too. Their lips met, and Chuck sighed. Sarah opened her mouth, and Chuck's tongue eagerly slid in. He had missed this so much.

They both jumped back from each other when they heard a slight cough.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Aaron said Sarah and I should switch, so that someone is keeping our cover at the Orange Orange. Devon's in the other room waiting for us, but I can wait, though…" Alex said blushing, clearly embarrassed.

"No, it's fine!" Chuck said. "We'll talk later?" he asked Sarah. Sarah nodded yes, and Chuck headed towards the cardio room with Alex.

* * *

The walk to cardio with Alex was a bit awkward. Chuck felt for Alex, it's not every day you walk in on your co-workers making out.

The awkwardness was killing Chuck, and he finally decided on a safe subject. "So, Alex, did you have fun at Morgan's last night?"

Chuck was glad he had chosen that topic because Alex instantly opened up. "It was really fun! I didn't know you and Morgan were so good at halo. Sarah and I are definitely going to have to practice."

"Eh, we're nerds," Chuck said, shrugging his shoulders. "We've spent half our lives playing video games. It's too bad Aaron and your dad couldn't have stayed longer."

Alex sighed. "Yea, I guess." Chuck looked at her, intrigued by her sudden change in her voice.

"You like your dad, don't you, Alex?" Chuck asked.

Alarm filled her face, "Yes, I do! Oh no, do I act like I don't like him? I don't mean to. Dad's really, really great. He's just not my mom, you know?"

"I understand completely," Chuck reassured her. "My parents had completely different personalities, too. Your dad is awesome, though. He loves you; it's pretty obvious that you could ask him to do anything and he'd do it for you." Chuck laughed. "I never thought I'd see the day Casey was wrapped around someone's finger."

Alex bit her lip; something Chuck had noticed was a pretty regular habit for her. "Do you really think he'd do anything?" she asked, in the same wistful voice she had used earlier.

Chuck was really interested now. "Of course!" He waited a few minutes before stopping Alex in the hallway, a few doors away from the cardio room. "What's really bothering you, Alex?" She didn't answer, and Chuck said, "I promise I won't tell anyone. I'm actually a pretty amazing secret keeper, if I may say so myself."

Alex looked up at him, her lip almost raw from biting it so hard. "Chuck, I think I'm in love with Morgan."

Of all the things Chuck was expecting her to say, that was definitely not what he was expecting. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a disgruntled noise. He quickly closed it, hoping Alex hadn't heard it.

"Aaron is a really great guy, and I know he's just my boyfriend because it keeps other guys who could potentially be a threat from hitting on me, but he's just so…. I don't know. Spy-ish I guess? Morgan is totally himself, and honest, and cute, and… Would it be too horrible if Morgan was my cover boyfriend instead?"

Chuck took his time, trying to decide how to answer her question. "You know, before I finally decided I was in love with Sarah, I dated a couple other girls. Sarah was still my body-guard, but she was also my friend." Alex looked hopeful until Chuck said, "You do know Morgan doesn't know anything about the spy world, right?"

"I know, but couldn't we just tell him? It's not like he'd tell anyone. He's Morgan, after all" she said, convincingly.

Chuck was about to answer her, but it was at that exact moment that Devon poked his head outside the door. "Time's a wasting!" He made a point of pointing to his wristwatch. "Let's get your cardiovascular muscles to scream for mercy."

They both groaned in mock annoyance, causing Devon to laugh and return to the room. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" Chuck said, Alex nodding in agreement.

* * *

Almost two hours later, an exhausted Chuck pulled himself off the treadmill.

"Devon," he panted. "You… Suck. How can you… be in such good… shape?"

Devon was still running, barely even out of breath. "Dedication to the machine, bro. It's all about the dedication. Exercise is awesome! You'll thank me for this in the long run."

Chuck groaned and waved good-bye, eager to hit the showers. Alex had left twenty minutes prior; she had a date to go on with Aaron. Chuck felt bad for her. He knew what it was like to be stuck in a never-ending spy circle of love.

The brief room was deserted. Casey was trailing Alex and Aaron, for extra security reasons, not because he was stalking his daughter, on their date. Chuck let out a big sigh, and headed towards his new destination.

"General Beckman?" he said, after pressing the necessary buttons to make the monitor come to life.

Chuck winced when he saw her in a bathrobe, hair tucked in a shower cap. That was one image he definitely didn't need in his head.

"I hope you have a good reason for disturbing my shower, Chuck." Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "It looks like you could stand a shower, too."

Chuck smiled, unashamed. "Welcome to my life, General." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I have a hypothetical question to ask you."

Beckman released an impatient sigh. "Yes?"

"Okay. So suppose, hypothetically, that you were assigned to cover date someone. Let's just say that you were incredibly vulnerable because of the secrets in your head, and your cover date was there to protect you. They're really great, but what if you want to date someone else? Would that be acceptable…hypothetically speaking, of course?"

The General's eyes just about popped out of her head. "Chuck. Are you telling me that you're in love with someone other than Sarah? After all that you two have gone through…."

Chuck back-tracked quickly, realizing how stupid he had just sounded. "No! Oh gosh, no, General. Wow. That really is my life story, isn't it? Seriously, though, I love Sarah. This is a hypothetical question. It's a completely different circumstance than my own."

Beckman's eyes softened. "Have you told her you love her, Chuck?"

"What?" Chuck retraced what he had just said. "Did I just say I love her? I didn't mean… I mean, this is all purely hypothetical. Remember?" Chuck could have kicked himself for saying something like that to his boss. "This is about Alex. She, uh, I was just wondering…"

"It depends on who she's interested in." Beckman interrupted, tying her bathrobe a little tighter while smoothing down her shower cap. "Dare I even ask?"

"Muuygun," Chuck mumbled under his breath.

"Pardon me?" Beckman said, leaning closer to the screen.

"My friend, Morgan Grimes," Chuck said, quickly, hoping she wouldn't make him repeat it again.

She balked. "You can't be serious. That bearded little thing you conspire with? Does Colonel Casey know anything about this?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. Alex just kind of mentioned it in passing, and I thought I'd see what your opinions on it were…"

The General started to massage her temples as she interrupted him, again. "Agent Bartowski. I think that, for the time being at least, Alex would be safer with Agent Parker. After this whole SPI thing blows over, then we'll see. Don't get her hopes up." With that, the General disappeared from the screen.

Chuck stared after her, trying to decide what he should tell Alex. He headed to the shower, his original destination, thinking over his and Beckman's conversation.

* * *

Sarah knew she was breaking every rule in the book. If the enemy contacts you, you tell your superior. The superior makes the decisions on what to do after that. Under no circumstances do you approach the enemy alone.

What the rule book didn't specify was what you were supposed to do if it was your sister that contacted you. Were you supposed to ignore the fact that they were your _family_ and turn them in? The word sent shivers down Sarah's spine. She had missed her sister so much. Sure, Jenn had made mistakes, but she was, what was it that that cartoon movie called it? Oh, right, Ohana. She smiled at the memory of watching Lilo and Stitch with Chuck's family. She wanted that with Jenn.

It was obvious when Sarah read the letter that there was a secret message for her on it. Before she had left, the two sisters had had a way of communicating when their parents were fighting, and they were supposed to be quiet: invisible ink. It wasn't hard to make, provided you had lemons handy.

Sarah looked down at the map Jenn had drawn for her on the back of the letter, and headed in the direction it dictated. She knew the location very well; it was the Chinese restaurant she and Chuck had had their first date in. Did Jenn know about that, or did she just like Chinese?

So many questions whirred in Sarah's mind. Why did she have to come alone? Was this a trap? She hoped it wasn't. She had a lot of weapons hidden away in case it was, but it would be nice to just see her sister. Scratch that, it would be nice to figure out what the heck she wanted. Why she hadn't died? What the heck was going on!

Cautiously, she hid behind a wall, glancing over both shoulders before she started to creep towards the back door of the restaurant. No one was in the alley, which meant no one would hear her if she needed help. Great.

She moved her hand to her gun, and pushed the door open. This wouldn't be the last of Sarah Walker. She still had to tell Chuck she wanted their relationship. Chuck was ready for it; she knew it. He had kissed her back today. She smiled, remembering it. She shook her head. Thoughts like that could get her killed.

She walked into the room, ready to attack if she needed to, but she lowered her weapon almost as soon as she walked in. Before her eyes was her mirrored self, sitting on a cargo box and puffing away at a cigarette.

"Hey there, baby sister. Did you miss me?"


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N** Hey! A lot of you thought the last chapter should have had more emotional angst in it. When I wrote chapter nine, I was trying to lighten the mood a bit, and to show that Chuck and Sarah were trying to work out their relationship, even though they had lots of outside forces trying to foil it. I felt that I there hadn't been enough Charah so far. This chapter is largely about Sarah's sister, but I promise, the next one will delve into the inner dark-twisty emotions of our two favorite spies. This and the next chapter have been my two favorite chapters to write thus far, so I really hope you enjoy them! (Let me know if you like how Jenn was portrayed!)_

_By the way, I changed the story summary, so don't be too freaked out about that! :)_

_I was hoping to reach 100 reviews with the last chapter… But I guess it'll have to wait til the end of this one! The 100th reviewer gets a special shout-out along with a random thing I found out about Ryan McPartlin (Devon). I really want to thank everyone who has taken the time to review, and to thank everyone who will review in the future! *hint hint* It really helps to keep the story line chugging along. On with the story!

* * *

  
_

_RECAP_

_Sarah walked into the room, ready to attack if she needed to, but she lowered her weapon almost as soon as she walked in. Before her eyes was her mirrored self, sitting on a cargo box and puffing away at a cigarette._

_"Hey there, baby sister. Did you miss me?"

* * *

  
_

Sarah was shell shocked. "Jenn?" She asked, inching closer to her sister. "Is that really you?"

She scoffed. "No, Munchkin, I'm your evil twin come back from the grave to haunt you." Sarah didn't respond to her joke, so Jenn rolled her eyes, and said, "Of course it's me!" She took another puff from her cigarette, and then, feeling selfish, said, "Want one?"

Sarah refrained from wrinkling her nose, "Thanks but I don't smoke."

Jenn's eyebrow lifted in surprise. "What kind of spy doesn't smoke?" Sarah shrugged her shoulders, feigning disinterest. "So what have you been up to since I died, Sam?"

"No one has called me Sam in years. I thought you'd know that, since you're supposedly a spy. Why are you…"

Jenn put her hand up, stopping Sarah's question. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions. I promise I'll answer all of them, but for now, can we just pretend that I haven't been dead the last 15 years? We can have dinner and catch up. You know, have a sister-bonding experience."

"Jenn, I can't play pretend with you. Honestly, the only reason I came here was to find out where Mr. Bartowski is," Sarah said, trying to sound like the older sister.

The oldest Iverson laughed. "Sammy Sammy Sammy, you haven't changed a bit! Always trying to take charge of the situation and keep a level head." She took a deep puff. "That's why Dad chose you to be his partner in crime, you know. He thought I was too emotional for this kind of stuff. Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong. All I know is that I'm not the emotional one right now. That Chuck guy, you'd do anything for him wouldn't you?"

"I don't know how you know about Chuck, but leave him out of this. This right now? This is between you and me." Sarah slid her hand down her side, making sure her knife was still in position to be thrown.

Jenn's eyes narrowed, not missing Sarah's subtle movement. "This has everything to do with Chuck. You should know that, little sister. If he didn't have that lovely intersect, he wouldn't be appealing to me at all. I've always loved an intelligent man."

"How do you know about the intersect?" Sarah spat back. "That's top secret information that only a select few know about."

"You'd be surprised what I know," Jenn said, challengingly. All of a sudden, her demeanor shifted, and she relaxed. "I really think you should come to dinner with _us_."

"Us?" Sarah questioned. It was then she felt the barrel dig into her back. "_Damn_," she thought, "_I was hoping this wouldn't be a trap_."

"Sarah bear," Jenn said using Sarah's preferred name, catching her off guard, "Do be a dear and come have some Chinese with us." She smiled at the person behind her. "Daniel will gladly shoot you if you resist."

Sarah had no choice but to follow her sister into the restaurant. She looked around, and decided that it was just Shaw and her sister. She could take them, if she had to. Sarah wanted to find out as much as she could about her sister, though, so she walked in, pretending that she was being held captive. She held in a smirk; she was definitely the better spy of the sisters.

* * *

Four hours after Chuck had showered and returned home, Sarah still hadn't arrived. He had called her cell, Alex's, and even Parker's. No one had seen her since her shift ended at the Orange Orange. Chuck was starting to get worried. He wanted to blame it on his paranoia, but he had a feeling…

"Hey, Ellie, this is Chuck. I know you probably haven't seen Sarah, but she hasn't returned my calls and I was just wondering if you'd heard from her. Talk to you when you get home."

Chuck closed his phone, making a classic Bartowski frustrated face. Sarah wasn't irresponsible. She didn't go places without back-up. A little voice started to nag him in the back of his mind. What if she had left him again?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Why would she do that? They had kissed, for real, finally. She was the one who wanted to get back together. No, it had to be something else.

Then it hit him. The letter. He had seen Sarah looking at it a lot the past couple of weeks. She had all but declared it was a living creature

It had said to meet them at Jeffster's audition. Chuck had run surveillance on all the employees of Skeeter Barns, twice, as well as all the customers who regularly ate there. Everyone was clean. It couldn't be related to that.

Casey had analyzed the letter extensively. Chuck had though it smelled like lemons when he flashed on it, which was ironic because, after talking to Sarah later, she said Jenn used to call her her "Little Lemon." Lemons. Lemons, lemons, lemons….

The light-bulb clicked on. Back in elementary school, he had written in code to his friends with invisible ink. The letter had had a secret message for Sarah, he knew it. Frantically, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed the one person who could help him.

"This had better be important, Bartowski. Reagan was in my dream."

If it hadn't been such a serious matter, Chuck would have burst out laughing at Casey's partial sleep-talking. Not wanting to anger his only ally, he said, "Casey, I think the letter may have had an invisible letter written on the back of it. Did you check for that?"

The other line was silent. In Casey's intimidating voice, he said, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"I didn't question your IQ, Casey. I just want to know if the letter smelled like lemons or not."

"It smelled like perfume." There was a pause. "Lemons?"

"I think there might have been a secret message on it for Sarah. Casey, did you give the letter back to her? She's been rereading it all week."

"The letter is on my night-stand." Casey grunted, wanting to go back to sleep. "Can this wait until morning?"

How did both Casey and Sarah have a letter? Wait. What if Sarah had made a duplicate? "Casey, I think Sarah's in trouble. No one has seen her since she got off work, and I have this really bad feeling…"

"A feeling? Bartowski, you have to give me something better than that. Work was what, four hours ago? Knowing Walker, she lost track of time on a run, at a bar, or shopping. If she's not back in the morning, then I'll listen to your feeling. Good night, Chuck."

Hanging up with Casey gave Chuck a new perspective. Maybe Sarah wanted some alone time? She had, after all, just found out the sister she thought was dead was still alive. Chuck was known to over-react. Heck, he'd been over-reacting the past few weeks, too. His dad… He swallowed, bitterly, trying to regain his focus for the time being. This was one of his freak-out moments, he reasoned. He needed to un-frazzle his nerves.

Chuck headed to his room, intent on playing Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, but then he realized his controller was still broken from when he'd thrown it against the wall. How had he managed to forget about that?

He went to his desk, intent on attempting to fix it again, when he heard his phone vibrate. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was Morgan.

"Heeey buddy!" Morgan's cheerful voice resounded on the other side. "Whatcha doing?"

Chuck sighed, wishing that Morgan had a girlfriend to occupy his time. If only he and Alex… He shook his head. That was for destiny to work out. "Nothing too exciting, just working on my controller."

"You still haven't fixed that? Jeez, Chuck. You need to prioritize your time better! So I guess you're not hanging out with Sarah?"

"Nope, she's… Actually, I don't know what she's doing right now." Chuck shifted his cell to his other shoulder. "Morgan, do you actually have a reason for calling me?"

"Sure do! I was at that Chinese place a couple minutes ago. I was really craving some Crab Rangoons. Gosh they're delicious! Did you know that that restaurant is the only one in town that tries to use fat free oil, and…"

"Morgan. You said you had a reason for calling?" Chuck said, impatiently.

"Right! Well, it was the weirdest thing! I was ordering my delicious fat-free Rangoons with..."

"Morgan!"

"Sorry, Chuck! You have no idea how incredible those things are! Anyway, there was this girl hanging out in the kitchen. You know I get my food straight from the source. There are no lines for Morgan when it comes to his Chinese. I swear, she looked just like Sarah! She was a bit taller, but…"

Chuck dropped the phone. Jenn was still in Burbank? How could that be? They had swept the town immaculately, or at least he thought he had... He picked the phone up, still startled.

"…And then this guy walked through with Sarah. I don't think she saw me, and I would have waved, but she looked like she was thinking really hard, and I always hate to bother people when they're in their zone…"

"Wait. Rewind a bit there, buddy. Sarah was there? With the look-alike Sarah?"

"She sure was!" Morgan said, happy that Chuck had finally understood what he was trying to say. "Listen, I got some extra Chinese food. Do you want me to come over? I can bring an extra controller…"

"Morgan, I love you right now," Chuck said, "Buddy I've got to go, but rain-check on the video game night, okay? See you tomorrow at work."

Morgan was about to reply, but Chuck had already hung up. He smiled to himself. It wasn't every day that his best friend said he loved him. "Bro-mance all the way baby!" he shouted, throwing a bit of Chinese in the air, trying to catch it with his mouth, and it landing all over the floor. Morgan shrugged his shoulders; his mom could clean it up later.

Chuck was panicked. Sarah was with Jenn? Was she there by choice? Or had Jenn somehow managed to kidnap her? Was his dad there, too? Could this be a pre-Jeffster's concert thing? He dialed Casey, again, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Bartowski, I am going to strangle…"

"Casey, before you come up with a lot of unique and painful ways to kill me, you should know that Sarah is with Jenn. Morgan just saw them. Casey, I think she's in trouble."

An audible Casey sized sigh could be heard on the other end. "I'll be there in two minutes." Before Chuck could respond, Casey had hung up.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Casey, Chuck, and a half-asleep Alex stopped in front of the Chinese restaurant. For the tenth time Chuck said, "You could have left Alex sleeping. She's a big girl…"

"Who might be in danger if SPI is trying to kidnap our agents," Alex finished for her dad. She yawned. "It's fine, Chuck. I usually stay in the van anyway, so I'll just go back to sleep, if you stop talking about me that is."

"Is that her, Bartowski?" Casey growled, pointing into the window of the restaurant. Casey, as usual, had parked in the perfect place; a dark, secluded alley with, ironically, the street-light out.

Chuck looked through his pair of binoculars, Casey and Alex copying his movements. "I don't know, I can't see her face very well. The waiter is blocking the table." Chuck released a huge sigh. "If she would have just told someone where she was going…"

"Don't go there, Chuck," Alex warned. "I'm sure there's an explanation for this."

Chuck's face hardened. "I'm sure there is, too. That's why I'm going to go find out what it is." He reached for the door handle, and almost got out of the car, but Casey grabbed his arm and yanked him back in.

"Where do you think you're going, Bartowski? You're not going to blow our cover," he hissed, motioning his head in the direction of the Chinese worker who had just come out of the building.

"But what if Sarah's…" Chuck was interrupted with Alex saying, "Look, it's Sarah!" She was all but hitting Chuck in the head with all the waving she was doing with her arms.

Casey and Chuck both turned to look. Sure enough, the blonde had turned to talk to the waiter, and she had unblocked the other person at the table. There sat Sarah, her face grim, looking as though there was nothing she'd like better than to hit her sister.

"We have to go get her!" Chuck said, trying to get out of the car again. Casey saw his hand go for the door handle, though, and he yanked him back yet again.

"There's nothing saying she's in trouble. She could just be having dinner with her sister. Did you clear it with the General that this wasn't Sarah's assignment?"

"Um, no, but…" Chuck started to grasp at straws when he saw Casey's face change to annoyance. "Why would Beckman send her in alone? Sarah's in trouble. Can't you see her face? She looks incredibly pissed!"

"Maybe her soup had a fly in it." Casey said. He looked at his wrist-watch. "We're not going in there unless there's immediate danger." He glanced back at Alex, "We being Chuck and me. You'll be staying in the van."

Alex snorted in annoyance, but didn't argue with her dad.

"My guess is she'll come out unscathed. We'll figure out what the heck she's doing in there then," Casey said.

Chuck looked unconvinced. He needed the backup, though, so he settled into his seat, eyes peeled on Sarah and the activity of the restaurant, waiting for an excuse to rescue Sarah.

* * *

Back in the restaurant, Daniel had left Jenn with Sarah at the table, but he was watching them closely from a corner table. Sarah had thought of trying to get out of there, but she knew if she did, she wouldn't get the answers she had come for.

"So you and Chuck. How long have you been together?" Jenn asked, casually, as if the whole thing was a friendly sit-down dinner.

Sarah scowled. "Does it really matter? I assume you know the answer already, since you knew about our relationship and the intersect." She nodded her head in Shaw's direction. "Does he know?"

Jenn smiled, pleasantly. "I have my secrets, from both Daniel and you, but no, Daniel doesn't know about Chuck. It's my hopes that, with your cooperation, he won't ever have to find out. Well, yours and Mr. Bartowski's cooperation of course."

"What does Mr. Bartowski have to do with any of this, Jenn? Sarah asked, keeping her voice low, but it was clipped with fury. Anyone else would have known that Sarah was way past 10 on her anger-level, but Jenn kept plodding through the conversation.

"Why, I thought you would have figured it out by now! That's half the reason I met you here tonight. You and your team weren't getting anywhere with the investigation." She made a pouty face. "It's no fun to be the bad guy if no one is looking for you."

"Enough of your riddles," Sarah said, frustrated. "Can you for just one minute, pretend that we're sisters and tell me what the heck is going on? I saw you buried, Jenn. They have a file saying you're a CIA agent. You kidnapped Chuck's father, and, apparently, you hang out with a bunch of rogue agents. Can you answer any of these questions? Or am I just wasting my time here?" Sarah started to stand up, intent on leaving, but she caught sight of Shaw watching them. Sarah didn't want to make a scene, so she sat back down.

A waiter came over with their drinks: water for Sarah and iced tea for Jenn. Sarah was silent as Jenn ordered for both of them. She sat back with a scowl; Sarah hated when people made decisions for her.

The silence seemed to spread out for an eternity. Finally, Jenn broke it, and sighed. "It was never supposed to be this way, Sammy. I joined the CIA for you. It was supposed to keep you out of it."

Sarah perked up, but then recoiled again. "What about mom? She is dead, right? Did you murder her in an attempt to fake your death?"

Jenn looked like she had been slapped. "No! Is that what you think? Mom and I were in a six-car pileup. She… Every time I close my eyes, I see her lifeless eyes staring at me in that car." She shook her head, clearing the memories. "Did you know the late Director Graham had been waiting for a moment to recruit you?" Sarah looked shocked.

She continued, "He knew you were good; you had been working directly with Dad for ages, and he assumed I had, too. Graham saw me in the hospital, minutes after I was brought in. It was his goal to collect both of us, and have us save the world together. He didn't tell me that, though. Graham promised you immunity. I traded myself to be an agent so that you wouldn't have to become one."

The waiter brought their food over, and Jenn thanked him. She daintily started to eat her food with chopsticks, marveling about how good it was. Sarah was feeling stomach-sick, so she just sat there and watched her sister eat.

Several minutes later, Jenn continued. "I was working with a top-secret project, the intersect. I was engrossed with it. If I hadn't been, I might have found out sooner that you had been recruited. I would have convinced you to get out of the program before you wasted your life in it, too. Did you know I was a prime candidate to have my memory enhanced? But no, that brainless Larson had to send it to your boyfriend. Boy was I mad…"

Jenn calmed herself down before saying, "It was about that time I realized you had become a full-out spy. I had spent too much time in the lab, and not enough time keeping tabs on you." She smiled, menacingly. "In the past few months, I found out more about you than you probably even know yourself."

Sarah balked. "Wait, _you_ were supposed to get the intersect?"

Jenn scoffed. "I was. Before Larson and Chuck came into the picture. The CIA screwed me over. I'm thankful they did, though, because now I know what I want." Jenn's smile made Sarah's blood run cold. "Revenge."


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N** Hey all! Unfortunately, this is going to be the last chapter for a few weeks. I move in to the dorms tomorrow, and after that, I have classes that will literally make me tear my eyes out. Ah! No worries, though, I won't give up on the story. I made this chapter the longest one yet, just to make up for the longer wait it will be for the next one. It's not a cliff-hanger, so you can be happy about that!_

_By the way, I had an epic failure. It's supposed to be Larkin instead of Larson from the last chapter! I went back and changed it on my hard-drive, but I don't know how to change it on fanfic… If I use his name again, though, I'll make sure it's correct!_

_The 100th reviewer was *dun duN DUN* Fire From Above! Thanks everyone else for your reviews, too! They always make my day especially wonderful :) Now for the promised tid-bit about Ryan McPartlin: I was watching Sugarland's new music video Stuck Like Glue, and Ryan was the main character in the video! He had quite a few classy Devon faces, and it really made me want to watch a new episode of Chuck. Good thing September 20th is getting closer. I can hardly wait!_

_Talk to everyone in a few weeks!

* * *

  
_

_RECAP_

_Sarah balked. "Wait, you were supposed to get the intersect?"_

_Jenn scoffed. "I was. Before Larkin and Chuck came into the picture. The CIA screwed me over. I'm thankful they did, though, because now I know what I want." Jenn's smile made Sarah's blood run cold. "Revenge."

* * *

  
_

"Jenn, don't be ridiculous. You can't take on the whole CIA system on yourself," Sarah said, trying to reason with her sister.

"Oh, I know I can't take them on. My group, SPI, can take them on," Jenn said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

Sarah was getting desperate. She hadn't found out anything about where Mr. Bartowski was. Chuck was going to be furious with her. No information on his father, and she hadn't left him a stupid note saying she was going to be gone for awhile. Stupid, stupid Sarah! She started grasping at straws.

"SPI? That's an interesting name for a rogue group. Why not SPY?" the younger sister asked, trying to get any information she possibly could.

"Seriously pissed individuals searching for personal insight while studying the phenomenal intersect." Sarah looked confused.

"Everyone in SPI has been wronged by the CIA. Daniel lost his first wife, I lost the intersect, and so on and so on and so on. Admit it, Sarah. The CIA has double crossed you and Chuck more times than I can count. They wouldn't let you be together at Prague, they ruined Chuck's ability to flash, heck, they ruined Chuck's life in general. If it wasn't for the CIA, who knows what kind of lives you and Chuck would have had by now. Three years of their meddling, and where has it gotten you?"

Sarah was looking down at her plate, trying not to listen to the truth her sister was saying. It was true. Every time she and Chuck started to go somewhere, the CIA interfered. Her thoughts were interrupted.

"Daniel and I want the government to know what they've done to us. We want them to suffer as much as we have. Most of us haven't ever even gotten a proper thank you for putting our lives in danger. "Sammy," Jenn's tone of voice caught Sarah's attention, making her look up, "Join us. With the intersect and the Iverson sisters working together, we'll be unstoppable."

Sarah thought it over. Yes, the CIA had been horrible to her and Chuck. They had meddled with their lives, and they constantly put them in danger without thoughts to their wellbeing. That was what you got when you signed up to be a spy, though, wasn't it? It's not like you didn't know what you were getting into when you joined the system. Yes, Chuck hadn't intentionally joined the CIA, but if he hadn't of been made the intersect, would she have ever met him?

What would life be like if Sarah didn't have Chuck to make one of her bad moods turn out good? Where would she be if she wasn't watching out for the adorable nerd who had captured her heart? If it hadn't of been for Chuck, she would still be the heartless, murdering spy who didn't think twice about doing her job. Chuck had changed her for the better. The government did a lot of things that made her angry, but she owed them for the tentative relationship she had.

She processed what she should say to her big sister. "And if I say I don't want to join?"

Jenn's hopeful smile turned menacing. Sarah felt a shiver go up her spine. "Then we won't have any use for you. You see, little sister, no one besides me knows about Chuck, and belatedly, Alex's special abilities. Can you imagine what would happen if, for some unexplained reason, the media had access to their files?"

"You wouldn't dare," Sarah seethed.

"Wouldn't I? It's not only their safety in jeopardy. You've read Parker's file, right? You remember how he went on those rampage murder sprees when his sister was murdered? How would you feel if I told you that you were the one that murdered her?"

"Jenn…" Sarah started. She was interrupted with the waiter bringing the check over to the table. Jenn politely thanked him.

"Did you want a box to put your leftovers in?" the waiter asked. When Sarah didn't respond, Jenn politely responded for her, "No, thank you," and he left.

As soon as the waiter was out of ear-shot, Jenn continued, "Can you imagine what would happen if you had an enemy working with you? Think about it, Munchkin. There's no way out."

Sarah's head swam with confusion. Could Jenn really blackmail her like this? What had changed since she had last seen that spunky, awkward teenager who made sand-castles with her on the beach? "What do you want me to do?" she finally asked, quietly.

Jenn's malicious smile returned. "I want you to use this to scan Chuck's brain waves." She handed Sarah a flash-drive looking object, "And use this one to scan Alex's," and she handed her another flash-drive. "I'll be in touch with you in the next week. Try and accomplish this simple task, okay, Lemon?"

Her little sister's eyes flashed. How dare she use her nickname! Sarah had considered her family, she had come to give her sister a chance to explain herself, and this was how she was treated in return. "Can you tell me if Chuck's father is alright?"

"Mr. Bartowski is perfectly safe. We have no reason to hurt him because he's our opportunity to create the _ultimate_ memory enhancement program. Combine the intersect and PGMA together, and what do you get? Someone who can access any of the files stored in their brain at will. That's what. Brilliant, isn't it?"

Jenn signed her name on the credit card receipt with a flourished hand, and stood to leave. "Come on, I'll drive you to your house." When Sarah started to act like she was going to bail, Jenn grabbed her arm and hissed, "We have people everywhere, sister. Don't try anything funny."

Sarah, her pride hanging by a thread, stood to leave. It was then she noticed the van sitting out in the street. She squinted, and realized that it was her team. The look of surprise on her face lasted only seconds, but it was long enough for Shaw to notice.

He walked over to Jenn, and whispered something in her ear. Jenn glanced out the window, too, and her face hardened.

"Don't you understand simple instructions? Come alone. Alone means by yourself, not with backup," she growled in Sarah's ear. Jenn grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her towards the door.

"Jenn, I swear, I didn't bring them with me. I have no idea how they found me!."

"Stop groveling. My little sister doesn't brown-nose me. Ever. Do you understand?" By then, the trio had reached the back of the restaurant. "Get in the car," Jenn barked.

"I'm still going home, right?" Sarah asked. She was hoping her team hadn't seen her.

"You were going home when I thought we had a deal. Our cover has been blown, Sam. Do you know how dangerous it would be for us to take you home now? No, you're coming with us."

Sarah had gained a lot of valuable information. Information that could help them find Chuck's dad before Jeffster's concert. They only had a week, but it was possible. It couldn't be that hard to find a list of CIA agents who felt they had been jipped.

"They might not even be here for me. Please, just let me go and I'll get the scans like you asked. I won't say anything, just let me go."

Jenn looked at her sister, and realized that it wasn't an enemy agent before her, it was her little sister. She sighed, about to agree to Sarah's demands, but at that moment, a shot was fired from across the street, narrowly missing Jenn. Her demeanor changed instantaneously.

Sarah was roughly pulled in front of Jenn as a shield. Shaw had gone to get the van, and he sped up behind them. By this time, Sarah could easily distinguish Casey and Chuck coming towards her. She drew in a deep breath, holding her temper. She could have easily gotten away since it was just Jenn holding her hostage, but for the life of her, she couldn't stomach the thought of hurting her sister.

Jenn hissed in her ear, "I still want those scans. Make sure their eyes are open, point it towards them a few feet away from them, press the button on the side, and the machine will do the rest. I'll be in touch." Jenn threw Sarah to the ground, and jumped in the car with Shaw, speeding away.

Chuck and Casey came running up to her. "You okay, Walker?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, fine," she responded. Casey, seeing that everything was in order, headed back to the van to check on Alex.

Chuck held his hand out to help her up, and she made a point of ignoring it. Sarah was angry, oh boy, was she angry. "How did you even find me?" she asked, seething. "I didn't tell you where I was going for a reason."

"Are you kidding me? Those goons were about to smuggle you off to who knows where, and you're mad at me for finding you?" Chuck's temper was starting to rise, too.

"Chuck, they were taking me home!" Sarah exploded.

His face was confused momentarily, but it was quickly replaced by suspicion. "Are you working with them?"

"What? No! We haven't found anything about your dad. I wanted to help, and this was the only way I could see to do that. Chuck, my sister did this. She has some stupid agenda, and I had to figure out what they wanted. They said to come alone." Explanation finished, her anger returned, "I could have gotten more information out of her, if you would have just stayed the heck away."

"Well what was I supposed to think when you didn't come home! The last time you didn't show up, I didn't see you again for six months."

"Are we really going to drag Prague into this, Chuck? Seriously? I thought we were past this. You know I left you so that we could have the chance to be together for real. I did that for us."

"That's your problem, Sarah. You never think past what's best for you. Did you ever think that we could have worked something out if you had just told Beckman you wanted to talk to me first? That you wanted to explain what was going to happen to me by yourself? You could have saved both of us a lot of trouble."

"I'm sorry, okay?" she burst out. "I did what I thought was best."

"Oh, and that's why you did just now? You met up with your sister. _Your_ sister who happens to have kidnapped my dad? I thought you were on my side. I've always treated you like you were more than just another person in my family."

Sarah choked out, "She is my family, Chuck."

Chuck's anger was past its peak. "Yeah, well, if your criminal sister is family, what does that make me? Am I supposed to revert back to being just an 'assignment' now?" He wiped his hand across his eyes. "We kissed. We had that one, really great moment, and I thought we could make this work, for real this time. I was going to pretend that my dad was still hiding out from whatever delusion he thought was after him. I was going to pretend that your sister was still non-existent. I was going to pretend that maybe you felt the same way about me. I was going to tell you I lov-…" His face hardened. "Never mind, I can see I was wrong."

"Chuck, wait," she started, touching his shoulder.

The involuntary touch started Chuck's wheels in his brain. He flashed. A nice, ninja, take out the enemy flash. His anger took over his system, and he turned around to face Sarah. In minutes, he had flipped her to the ground, sprawled across her, about to punch her face, but then he looked down. He saw the anguish, the frustration in her face. She was going to let him hit her without a fight.

Chuck jumped up, more angry at himself than he was at Sarah for a moment. Had he seriously just let his emotions get the better of him again? He closed his eyes, breathing hard. His dad was missing. Sarah had just angered the hornets' nest, and who knows what they might do to him now. This was Sarah's fault. If she had just left her sister alone, and ignored whatever the heck feelings she had had about her, this right now wouldn't be happening.

Sarah still sat on the ground. How could she have messed up so much? Chuck had almost hit her. Yes, it had been instinct, his flash, but she deserved it. She wished he would have socked her. What was it about her that always made her act first, think later? Was it because she'd been raised to be a criminal her whole life? Was this the way things were supposed to be? Was she supposed to join her sister, _her sister, _who had just threatened hers and her friends' lives? Or was she meant to try and fix things with Chuck?

Chuck had been ready to try a relationship with her again. He had been ready to trust her. Like everything in her life, she had ruined it. She had ruined what she had with her dad, their easy-going con relationship. She had messed up by not staying in touch with her mom and sister when they had left. The one good thing she had had going for her in a long time she had destroyed. The flash-drives in her pocket felt like a dead weight. Was her sister right? Should she blame all of her problems on the government?

Chuck had been quiet for awhile, but he turned around, a pained expression on his face. "I think you should move out for awhile, just until things blow over."

Sarah nodded her head in agreement, silently wondering where she should go. An apartment? A motel? She'd figure something out. And she'd leave Chuck out of her mixed up life, for good. "I think it's for the best," she agreed, softly.

Satisfied that they had worked that out, Chuck headed back to the van, not even offering to help Sarah up this time. Sarah stiffly got up, working out the kinks in her neck from being flipped, again. She sighed. Had it only been this morning things had been going so well with Chuck?

By the time she returned to the van, Chuck had already fastened his seat-belt in the front passenger seat. Alex was out cold in the backseat, softly snoring. Casey had turned on the oldies station, and it was playing softly.

_*I've never seen a night so long…_

It had been a long day, Sarah begrudgingly thought to herself, but an even longer night. It was going to be even longer without her being able to snuggle next to Chuck when she fell asleep.

_When time goes crawling by…_

Chuck just wanted to get home. This car ride was taking forever. The awkward silence was deafening, and all he wanted was to his mind off of Sarah. He looked over at Casey to see if he could telepathically tell him to drive faster. Casey looked over at him, scowled, and went back to driving. So much for that idea.

_The moon just went behind a cloud, to hide its face and cry…_

Sarah wasn't one to let her emotions get the upper hand of her, but at this moment, all she wanted to do was bury her head in a pillow and cry. She wanted Chuck to hold her, and tell her everything was going to be okay. She knew that wouldn't happen, though, not after the stunt she had just pulled.

The next verse went by, and Chuck and Sarah were both mournfully thinking along, _I'm so lonesome I could cry…

* * *

  
_

After a painstakingly long car ride back, Chuck and Sarah headed inside, silently.

"I suppose I'll go grab my stuff and head for a motel…" Sarah said, trying to break the silence.

Chuck nodded in agreement, and headed in the opposite direction of his room. Sarah sighed. She didn't have much to pack, and she had too much time to think. Thinking was dangerous when you had a mission to do.

Chuck wasn't around when she left, so she let herself out, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Where are you going?" a voice said behind her.

Sarah jumped, about to grab her gun, but she visibly relaxed when she saw it was just Alex. "Um, Chuck and I had a fight. I thought I'd let him cool off for a bit."

Alex took one look at Sarah's bags, and then stated, "You're spending the night at my dad's and my place."

"Oh, no, I really should just go to a motel…" Sarah started.

"And what?" Alex interrupted. "Run away again? When are you going to learn you can't face your problems if you keep running from them?" She grabbed Sarah's bag, knowing she'd follow, and headed inside.

Casey was nowhere in sight when they walked in. Alex snorted. "Dad thinks if he goes to sleep fast enough he can recreate the dream he was having when Chuck woke us up." She led Sarah to a bedroom. "You can take the bed, and I'll crash on the couch."

"I'll take the couch. It's your bed after all," Sarah said, decisively.

Alex shrugged. "It won't matter either way to me. Once I fall asleep I'm dead to the world. Besides, Dad won't flip nearly as badly if I'm out there sleeping than if you are. You know how he gets sometimes," she said, smiling. She pointed down the hallway, and gestured to the nice, but now filthy, dress Sarah was wearing. "The bathroom is through that door, in case you want to shower or something."

She started to leave the room, but Sarah called her back with, "Hey, Alex, can I ask you something?" Alex returned and sat down on the bed, her face eager for some girl-talk. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Um, no, unfortunately. My mom never remarried. It's just me!" a smile lit her face, and she added as an afterthought, "And my dog, Ruffy. Well, I guess he's dead now, but he used to be the equivalent of a sibling."

"Oh," was all Sarah said back.

Alex looked at Sarah, studiously, and then said, "But if I did have an honest-to-goodness sibling, I'd probably do anything for them. They're family, you know?"

Sarah nodded her head in agreement. Alex continued, "When you're an only child like me, you have a lot of friends that sometimes take the place of siblings. For instance, I consider you and Chuck sibling-like people. It's hard to choose between actual family and pretend family sometimes."

She paused for a minute. "Take tonight, for instance. I could tell that Chuck really wanted help to make sure you were okay. If I hadn't of convinced my dad to go, we probably wouldn't have gone. Then again, I chose my dad when I decided to stay in the van instead of following him and Chuck to come rescue you. It's impossible to please everyone, but in the end, you have to make a decision that you can live with."

She smiled. "Not everyone has the government around to make them a new alias every time they screw up. You're lucky because you can usually run away from your problems in the form of a new identity. This time, though, Sarah Walker has made some mistakes, and you need to fix them like a normal person would."

Sarah thought over what Alex had said. "Have you thought about being a psychologist? You're really good at giving advice."

Alex laughed. "No way! My heart lies with Criminal Justice." Her head tilted a bit to the side. "I really like science, too. I just try to avoid that subject with Dad. He gets really confused when I start talking about it!"

Sarah chuckled at that. "I'm really glad you're part of the team, Alex. You definitely make Casey nicer to be around."

She shrugged her shoulders, "People like me." She winked. "I think they like the fact that I'm so short and adorable."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "I'm sure."

Alex bit her lip for a few minutes, started to say something, and then stopped. She studied Sarah's face for a few minutes before she said, "Don't let anyone else know this, but if I had been you, I would have gone to see your sister, too. I've read your files, Sarah. You used to kill people and perform missions without a second thought. I would have guessed Chuck to be more likely to do something like what you did, but since you spend most of your time with him, I think his personality is starting to rub off on you."

She pursed her lips slightly when Sarah didn't respond. "I like the new Sarah, and I'm hoping you listen to your heart more. It's good to think for yourself every once in awhile, even if other people don't like what your heart tells you to do. I know Chuck is mad at you now, but he'll come around."

Sarah had been twisting a loose strand of string on the comforter during Alex's speech, but when Alex had finished talking, she looked up at Alex and gave her a small smile to let her know she had been listening.

Alex muffled a yawn and stood up to leave. "I should probably let you get some sleep. Beckman is going to want a good explanation about this tomorrow. It might be easier for you if you aren't trying to think through a fog. Night!"

"Good night, Alex," Sarah said, softly. She looked around the room, then down at herself. She really needed a shower. She took her time getting her things ready, and took an even longer time showering.

Sarah had a lot to think about. Would Chuck forgive her for messing up this time? Was Jenn going to hurt Chuck's dad? Had she really killed Evelyn? She turned the faucet off and dried herself off. She wasn't going to get any of her questions answered if didn't get some sleep.

When she put her pajamas on, one of the flash-drives fell out of her pocket. Jenn's hasty instructions on how to use it came to mind. Sarah observed the object carefully. It would be really easy to take the scan. She didn't necessarily have to give it to her sister if she did…

Sarah gripped the flash-drive tighter, having come to a decision. Alex had said to listen to her heart, and this was what it was telling her to do.

As quietly as she could, she walked into the living room, making sure that both Casey and Alex were asleep. She could hear both of them snoring: Casey sounding like a giant bear and Alex making quiet snorts with hers. The fact that they both snored made Sarah smile.

She stood before Alex, several feet away from her head. Alex was out cold, just like she had said she would be. Gently, she lifted one of her eyelids and pointed the drive at it. It let off a laser-like light, and the little bar on the side of the drive went from 0-100 in seconds.

Mission accomplished, Sarah went back to Alex's room, feeling like a dirty traitor. She didn't have to give it to Jenn, she kept thinking to herself. Confident she had made the right decision, Sarah laid down, and after lots of plaguing doubts, eventually fell asleep.

* * *

*_I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry_ by Hank Williams


End file.
